#the main reason he avoids ladies is because he's afraid they will fall in love with him

[inkyvendingmachine]

“But if you don’t kiss me like that at least once more, fair warning that you might end up sleeping on the couch after all.” “What a devilish threat from someone so sweet!”

@inkdemonapologist sketched and inked this scene from the second half of the Susie/Joey chapter and I absolutely needed to colour it.

I have a lot of feelings about these two.

[mingoyeob-archive]

45 and 78 with jungkook pls🥺(Btw i love your writing and take your time for part 3☺️)

under the oak tree drabble game ⚔️🌳 to make up for my delayed release of part 3 of under the oak tree i’ve decided to do a drabble game! send me a number + any of the characters from under the oak tree and i’ll write you a drabble :)

hi thank you guys so much for requesting and also for being patient with me anon! I combined these two asks because you both asked for 78 so other anon you get a little something extra haha! I hope you enjoy <3

45: “Take.It.Off” + 78. “I didn’t think it was possible for you to get any more gorgeous” - jjk x reader - word count: 1.4k

Around the castle people buzzed and shuffled, zipping past one another like moving pieces in a well organized machine. The sound of numerous conversations and orders being shouted from left and right was only beaten out by the loud rushing water from outside, heavy drops of water hitting newly installed stain glass windows and ringing off like canons. Rain was nothing new to the occupants of Uwhen and not even the downpour outside could stop the bustling maids and the boisterous knights that littered every hall. So it was to Jungkook's surprise when he heard the noise come to a halt, turning his head to follow the direction of everyone's gaze trained on the main entrance. His eyes fell upon the distressing, albeit slightly amusing, sight of you standing drenched from head to toe, looking akin to a shaggy dog he had once seen fall into a river as a young boy.

It wasn’t your fault of course, this was your first rainy season after all. Sure there were a few cloudy days and drizzles that happened here and there but for the most part Aster was typically a sunny land with what seemed like never ending summers. So how were you expected to know that during this time storms came through quicker than the drop of a hat, nose untrained to picking up the fresh scent of lingering salty rain that was always a tell-tale sign of what was coming. And by the time you were able to feel the light drops of water landing on the top of your head it had already been too late and the next thing you knew you were trudging through thick mud, struggling to pull the train of your dress and walk with the weight of your heavy petty coat holding you down.

“Y/N!” Jungkook exclaimed and rushed over to you in only a few strides. His hands found themselves landing on your shoulders as he worriedly looked you over, eyes full of concern. He could feel you shaking under his fingertips. “What the hell happened to you, my love?”

You could only gaze up at him through wet lashes, lips set heavily in a pout. You could tell he was waiting for you to answer but you were too caught up with the fact that everyone had stopped to stare at the pair of you. Too afraid to sound like a fool, you had no intention of explaining yourself out here in the open, only letting out a small whimper as you huddled your arms close to yourself to stave off the cold. Jungkook noticed your hesitation, head whipping around to glare at the onlookers who had stopped to see what all the commotion was about. “Fucking hell- what are you all looking at!? Get back to work!”

Like a flip was switched, the noises returned and everyone went back to rushing past each other. All except your hand maiden who came running over the minute she saw a clear path over to your dripping figure. “Lady y/n! Let me get you back to your bed chambers and I’ll run you a fresh bath and get you a new pair of clothes and-”

“No need.” Jungkook had brushed past the maid, arm locked heavily around your frame as he started escorting you back to your room, not even sparing her a glance. “I can do all of that perfectly fine on my own.”

She sputtered and followed hastily behind you two, “But- but sir! Are you sure you don’t wan’t-” Jungkook's steely eyes had her mouth clamping shut and she stopped dead in her tracks. “Of course, my apologies. Please let me know if you need anything else, my lord.” She didn’t even wait for a reply before bowing and leaving in a hurry.

Jungkook merely grunted and continued walking the two of you up the staircase, your graze trained behind you as you watched your hand maiden scurry away. “You didn’t have to be so rude, you know.” You muttered, letting out a small hmph. Jungkook just gazed down at you briefly before pretending as if he didn’t hear your snarky comment. Though you swore you saw the hint of a smile twitch at the corner of his lips.

Upon arriving at the room, Jungkook had immediately pushed you into the center of the room, broad shoulders looming more than a few inches over you just an arms reach away. He sighed slowly and crossed his arms, “Take it off.”

You deadpanned, “What?” you say. You had heard what he said, but you hoped he wouldn’t say it again. That hope was mistakenly misplaced.

“I said take your clothes off. They’re soaking wet and you’ll get sick.” Jungkook said, talking as if this whole thing was just a giant nuisance. His facial expression was cold (as usual), so it was hard to really tell if he was serious or not (also very usual). “Once you undress I’ll give you a bath-”

“No no I’m fine! Haha no need for that, yup completely fine.” Your attempt at passing off the situation in an effort to avoid his offer was very unconvincing. “It’s not even that cold, I’ll dry off soon.” That was a lie. You were freezing, Jungkook could practically hear your teeth chattering as you spoke.

You were obviously uncomfortable with his request. He wasn’t mad, in fact, he completely understood. Despite being married for 3 years (most of it being spent apart except for one short night), he had only ever seen you naked once. At least in real life it was only once, his dreams were a completely different story.

Jungkook just shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger, “Y/N…” he let out a sound of annoyance and took a deep breath to compose himself before dropping his hand and fixing you with a steely glare. He hated having to get stern with you. “Take.it.off.”

This time you could definitely tell he was serious and your nervous smile immediately dropped, replaced quickly by a look of defeat. You knew you had lost this time so there was no point in trying to push off the inevitable so instead you just sighed and began undoing your corset, Jungkook standing quiet as he watched. You could practically hear a pin drip, the room was so silent. It was deafening.

When Jungkook saw your fingers get to the last loop, he waited with bated breath. Finally, he thought, he really had to talk to someone about making your dresses less complicated to get off (for your convenience, of course). He watched you gulp just as the cord was set free and then stared transfixed as the material fell, pooling around your ankles. If he wasn’t already holding his breath, he would’ve choked. His dreams were doing you absolutely no justice.

By now your face was on fire, heat feeling your cheeks to the point you no longer even felt cold. And Jungkook's stare was only making it worse, your head filling with so many nervous ramblings and worries. Have I gotten fat since he last saw me? And was that stretch mark always there? Wait, when did my thighs get so big?

“I didn’t think it was possible for you to get any more gorgeous.” your breath caught in your throat. Jungkook had whispered the words completely in awe, irises finally filled with something other than stony resistance (dare you say, love?). You don’t know how, but for some reason those simple words had all your insecurities fading away, at least for the time being. Because the way he looked at you in this moment, it didn’t matter if you had gained a stretch mark or two, cause you knew he would still see you as nothing less than beautiful.

It was hard for you to say exactly how he was feeling since he didn’t say much else before turning around to head into the bathroom (presumably to run that bath that he mentioned earlier), but for someone who was a man of a few words, just one sentence could mean a thousand. And you hoped he would stay with you long enough for you to hear a thousand more.

[aeempress]

Apritello Express Evidences, part 3

Apritello, my dear friends, is really all hints, devil in details, little pieces that, in the end, become a huge picture.

I can't say that there are a lot of episodes with April and Donnie spending quality time together, no. But all episodes are important to understand how their relationship are involving, growing. If you have sharp eyes and think about all of this even a little bit, you will be surprised how gracefully their relationship changes and grows, how characters evolve.

Dear passengers, we're about to start. Mind the gap!

Episodes “The Gumbus” and “Mrs. Cuddles”. 

I think it would be appropriate to analyze these episodes in bunch, because they have common situations of spooky supernatural stuff and reactions of characters to this.

When you watch these two eps in raw, it's easy to see how alike are reactions of Donnie and April in some scary, really odd situations. 

Adrenaline ‘n’ reclessness

April is really into all spooky things in “The Gumbus”, she's not afraid of some creepy stuff and she's really brave girl who easily copes with stressful and life-threatening situations.

Donnie is incredibly calm and collected when alive doll talked to him.

But still, April was frightened about plush rabbit because it was really unexpected for girl, she wasn’t ready to realize that plush doll that she’d worked with is alive fear-eating monster who will hurt and intimidate to get their precious screams. But point remains: Donnie and April share crazy fearlessness, which turns into an adrenaline addiction.

And here I am, a science guy, who tell you: adrenaline is a big deal for our body. This hormone can even provoke an onset of romantic feelings. Chemistry and anatomy come to fill the gaps: when a person is afraid, their pulse quickens, a cocktail of hormones is releasing into the blood, which sharpen the senses and reflexes. It will create a strong emotional bound, that's important for maintaining romantic kind of feelings. The more impressions there are (even negative ones), the higher the chance that person will remember his|her partner, and want to see them again – the body gets hooked on adrenaline, like a drug.

That’s why D&A have so strong, unshakeable boundaries. They are so alike: their attitude to scary things, the way Donnie and April cope with them, the adrenaline addiction their share. They even express feelings the same way.

And one tiny detail: April and Donnie start the teasing Raph for his fear of mrs. Cuddles. So they become the first victims of plushie.

Friendly reminder: they were the 1st victims, and what’s happened with them we don’t know, because it wasn’t shown due to not ruin the atmosphere of suspense.

But we have a beautiful quote of mrs. Cuddles and this precious shot which explain everything

Raph: Where’s Donnie?

Cuddles: In a happy place where he’ll scream and I can grow forever and now you’re gonna join him!

In a happy place, huh? Tied up with April in Splinter’s bedroom, a really happy place. Hold a sec, are they -

And after that Donnie’s responding is killing me.

Donnie:[OS] I'm afraid of togetherness.

Yep. All normal here. We should continue.

"Operation Normal" even though doesn't show a lot of interactions between April and Donnie, however continues the general outline highlighting the topics that were mentioned earlier in the show.

Firstly, April's relationship with her classmates. We're able to see how poor her scholar life is in "Hypno Part Deux" and "The Purple Jacket". She has no "normal", human friends except some strange remora guy, more like acquaintance than friend, though. But still, having "be normal" kick she's fine with Donnie's weirdness ( Mikey is always beyond all normal comprehension, Raph goes weird while he's alone, without brothers, and his fear of miss Cuddles is no big deal to fam, Leo didn't show any weird stuff during the series, like, reeeeal weird, m'kay?).

Conversation between April and Donnie at pizza spot

Really interesting and smooth scene. We’ve got Donatello who stares at April while he’s waiting his favourite pizza, no big deal.

And his legs.

If a person is interested in you, during a conversation, they will put their right foot forward (a left-handed person is more likely to put their left foot forward) in order to close the distance between you. - Check.

being in company, peson will point the sock at the most pleasant interlocutor for them. - check.

April’s legs are ponted at Donnie. Checkmate.

Yeah, April is hanging out with Donatello and Leonardo, but the main focus of hers is on Donnie. 

All these scene makes me think that Donnie, knowing about how badly sometimes April  wants to be normal, is up to help her overcome this. Fight fire with fire:  fill up her life with all of this weird, mystic stuff so it will be normal with time. Regular people go to pizza spot to spend some quality time together, so we have pizza restaraunt here, in Hidden City. Make all odd normal, and problem will solved.

Donnie really tries his best, look at his face. Dee’s fine with all this bizzare things what happens to April, he’s fine with her. But still he fails, because April’s concept of normalcy differs drom Donnie’s.

And again, for Donnie it’s not a problem at all. He’s always was at the opposite side of normalcy and it doesn’t matter for him if April is in the same boat with him. Cause, as I said, Don’s fine with that.

Second, how much Donnie knows about April.

- Scoff! Are you really still on this whole "I want things to be normal" kick?

- Yes, what big city girl doesn't have a kayak and has hazmat suit?

Interesting detail here: this line launches Donnie’s flashback (because the first scene is from “Purple Jacket”, it’s Dee’s episode, obviously). And Don, as far as I can tell, has in his flashback moments with April when she did something reaaally impressive. His face is way more louder than any words.

- Short answer: no. Long answer: nnooooooooo.

- Oh, no! You know how April freaks out around the cosplay wizards!

These tiny lines are containing a lot of background, stories, intimate conversations that April and Donnie share. This show always does the same trick: we never see a direct action, we are only able to see a result or statement of the result. But series do a great work telling us with such small and imperceptible gestures that their bonding at this point is mutual. Not only D tells April about his inventions, family and fam's issues he has and even his falls, mistakes and failures. April does the same thing, sharing with Donatello one of the most important things to her. Problem that really bothers her.

C'mon, he'd even memorized Sunita's name, though April messed up with this situation a bit. It seems Donnie memorizes facts about April - he remembered the wi-fi password from old April's work as we can see in "The Longest fight" (he could hack it easily, he's a genius, why he's been keeping in mind some piece information that useless for a year? It doesn't make any sense)

Oh, and that. Just a coincidence, I guess?

Just alike suits, no big deal. Plus, the whole family has it (and something tells me that guys have suits at the behest of Don, so probably April does). But Donnie and April has a lot in common like emotional expressions, reaction about some kind situations, fight style and even tastes in fashion.

Also, it seems like Donnie's been watching April for sometimes.

While Leo was hiding in trash can, to not catch anyone's eye rather than April. He definitely couldn't know who was passing by, but there was Donnie to observe from above. That's why he was hanging down the stairs when Leo spoke to April.

It’s not the first time Donnie dress up as old lady to monitor April’s day.

Leo: Why do you always make us dress up as old ladies? Donnie: №1: confort, №2: to blend in as we monitor April’s day for max normalcy.

 3. Even when D took away this cosplay wizard, he's still keeping eye on her.

Oh no, you don’t. Grandmas here!

Donatello changes his foe to save April exactly. He fought all evening with Brutus, but when April slightly gets in danger, Donnie just attacked anyone who has intention to hurt her and ruin her evening.

Is that a flying turtle in an old purple dress?

April, who all evening was trying to look “normal”, hiding her real friends because they are mutant turtles and pretending that nothing unusual happens here, finally gives up when Sunita mentioned Donnie. Even though new April’s friend has asked her before about Leo.

His eyes. 

Donnie is really impressed but what he saw, and the reason - April O'Neil.

The episode "Warren & Hypno, sitting in a Tree" is another incredible piece of whole picture.

Turtle tank is decorated for April birthday in purplish scheme, definetely Donatello's work.

Dee's nonverbal speech.

• He seems more interested and softer than usual looking at April. It's easy to say comparing him with brothers. Mikey is in anticipation of fun mode, Leo relaxed and show his "whatever it will be fun" attitude, Raph is listening carefully, but still, Donnie could just turn his head in April's vouce direction, not a whole body.

• Warren felt Don's gaze while talked with April, so worm made the remark. Pay attention to the construction of the frame of neighboring scenes. The second frame is April's perspective. And Don is looking namely at her.

Indignation. Disappointment. Spark, storm, madness (i love this russian meme, sorry not sorry)

• Donnie seems sincerely sorry for this situation with April's b-day. And again, this soft gaze and "Raph, shut the shell up, your nonsense is upsetting her"-eyes.

• Donatello is kind of person, who’s avoiding a proper confrontation, so he rarely stands up for someone.  He were remaining silent, when Raphael tried to cheer April in the most radiculous way, but when Hypno tried to play with April’s feelings, Donnie blew it. 

He’s obviously in wrath as D emote that expressively. Yeah, he had much on his plate at April’s birthday, but it’s her b-day on the line, not his pride.

Warren used April, playing with her fan feelings. Her idol betrayed her, she was locked up in a cage, and now we have Hypno who wants to use her again by pitting and pushing for her compassion, because, it’s obvious - boys would do everything she said. 

And Donnie tries to keep Hypno away from her, protect her feelings from another betrayal. 

As he’s already stated - “For you, anything”.

The show always tells us: if you wanna trigger Don, bring April in. 

Hypno tried to turn this thing around, Leo did the same in “Al be back”. 

If Hypno-tamus did that accidentally as he found out that April O’ Neil is a birthday girl, so her wishes that day were laws, Leo did it on purpuse.

Leo is good at manupulating and pulling some strings, plus he knows his twin as back of his hand. That’s why Leo mentioned April in the end as she was always the most powerful argument, the reason and motive for Donnie. At second he’s even panicked, but remained calm. He almost blew up his coolheaded image because of one certain girl in yellow.

• Donnie is really happy to present Warren's arm to April. He even holds it like a rare, priceless treasure. D is really proud of himself right now: he saved the day, after all. The emotional reaction of hers is exactly what Donnie wants to get. And then, his final pose, while April is on 9th cloud from happiness - that's really territorial gesture, D claims his supremacy and confidence, telling "See? That's my happy birthday girl".

Leapfrog with a composition

Donnie and April are more and more eager to be together in the frame. Composition’s boners, m’kay.

Special ride for April

Yeah, Donnie used to offer his battleshell to give April a special ride. It even has  a seat and handlebars for her comfort. She can control the flight as well as Donatello, they are like co-pilots. But he never carried her on his back before.

Usually, April is carried by Raphael, on his neck/shoulder, and she’s fine with it. Raph is strong enough to carry her without any difficulties or slowing down.

It’s not Donnie’s weak to carry her - no, he strong enough to carry his battleshell with a lot stuff in it everyday, Don can carry Splints on his shoulder without any apparent difficulty. He strong enough to hold the weight of his battleshell+April. Oh, c’mon, D assembled the Turtle tank only by himself and this for sure requires a lot of physical strength in order to engage in auto mechanics. Try lifting the wheel with tyre, and you'll see what I mean. Of course, there is a jack, but it will not solve all the problems. Don could use hydraulics and Archimedes ' laws, but I'm sure he did most of it with his own hands. Lifting and carrying, all by himself.

Not the strengh what’s matter but another point.

The sequence where Donnie carries April on his back doesn’t last long, it’s pretty easy to miss, while Raph openly do that with April on him. 

Plus April’s gaze: she’s staring right at us with her “ninja-eyes” as if they were caught in the middle of something. The duration and length of the sequence, the way it is made all of this arouse certain thoughts. 

It’s like nobody should see this. Too personal. To be more specific - too close and intimate? 

Donnie stated a few times that he’s not into togetherness, tactile interaction and phisical side of contacts. Although he's fine with his brothers, don't forget that April is a girl. Even if she feels like part of family, she’s not his relative. She’s not his sister. 

Some people tend to avoid physical contact with the objects of their interest. And this behaviour fits in Don’s character. He’s anxious type with a lot of psychological and emotional issues. Yeah, he tries to cover it up, built a shell to protect himself, behave as confident extravert but he’s nothing like that. Sometimes D tends to distance himself from his family, to hide in his shell, and we've seen that throughout the show. 

Don hangs by his phone quite often, he addicted to this as his comfort zone, his peaceful cave, where everything is much easier,

Don pretends he’s so busy with his science stuff to ward off his brothers (ep. Mind Meld), 

Don went to the lab to work on his projects, while he could hang out with April and the brothers (ep. Mrs. Cuddles). And he left for what? To work on self-cleaning tooth pick, or the titan bust of himself? It’s seems like lame excuse to be alone. He’s definetely an intovert, who sometimes needs some space and time with himself. 

All his cocky behaviour is showing off to hide insecure, diffident and vulnerable creature, softshell purple turtle. Yeah, Donnie has confidence in what he’s great in: tech, science stuff, where he’s only one is capable of. But if someone steps on his domain or doubts his authority, his true colours exposed.

And, once again, “Mind meld” is a great evidence of that. Would callous, unsumpathetic guy without heart have a wall with pictures of his fellows? I’m afraid not. Donnie has a soft, caring heart.

There’s an alley of his the dearest moments, because photos - are always memory, precious moments we want to keep. 

1 - from “Minotaur Maze”. Don loves good pizza, loves his brothers, and they have a little adventure together. Yeah, this photo isn’t on champ wall, but still.

2 - from “Mascot melee”. Important day for bros as they show themselves to people at daylight to rescue Raph and their operation to buy a new robe for his father. It’s their joint brothers dance, and D is loving to dance, remember? Definetely special occasion.

3 - from “Mascot melee”. Splints was really glad to receive a gift from boys. And Donatello, as we know, is always eager to achive for pop’s approval. This for sure must be in his precious moments collection.

5, 7 - from “Donnie’s gifts”. He even keeps a dorky photo, which Raph uses as profile pic at Donnie’s number.

8, 9 - “Down with the sickness”. It was funny to survive all the 7 stages to achive what boys wanted. They failed, but still.

10 - from “Al be back”. Who knows that Splints is so good at singing?

4, 6 - from “The Fast and the Furriest”. Strange choice, cuz, you know, photos ten seconds before his collision with April bat?

And yeah, he HAS April’s photo here. And at this pic it’s April, and April alone,without his brothers. 

Don’s a real softie, see?

And avoiding physical contact is a way to protect Donnie’s already shattered self-esteem. To not cause any doubts in front of girl which he’s interested in. That’s possible reason why we did not receive any heartwarming hugs in “The Purple Jacket”.

But Donnie carries April, because it’s her birthday. On the one hand, the girl claims that  her b-day is cursed, and Donnie could, by any chance, do something nice for her, and on the other hand - any request of the bithday girl - is the law, as we could see earlier.

Gift for birthday girl

There is no Donnie in the scene after Draxum throw off Warren's arm. While Raph comfort April about her birthday, Donnie was looking for it to present it to April.

He knows the best what is the most precious gift for her. Warren Stone, her idol, goat of making news; she have been in Stoneheads fanclub for 9 years. Also, it seems that Donnie is the one of turtles, who collected info about this worm.

Also, he stopped immediately when April stepped between them and show no disappointing (remind you about Donnie's sadistic science guy nature). The reason is April.

And another cute detail: their glasses are the same form.

Another episode "Mystic library" has slightly touched D&A interaction. But were talking about Apritello, it's all hints but quality.

When Mayham trapped in the mirror and Raph, Leo and Mikey obviously are not coping, April decides to call Donnie to clear situation up.

Donnie, mister "I ruin everything", she's going to call for help. I repeat this. April calls for help Mr. Science to solve mystic problems with her pet. MYSTIC PET.

 And he AGREES.

Turtles dissuade their friend from calling Donatello but after a while, April returns with Donnie, and sees the bathroom in ruins.

I'm gonna clear this moment.

1. April haven’t called Donnie.

2. Some time later she returns with Dee.

3. Our girl is pretty shocked to see her bathroom in ruins, argo she didn't see/hear Raph chose to solve problem with smashing.

It must mean only ine thing: April went for Donnie by herself. We don't know where was he, we don't know what the reason April brought Donnie with her by herself, 'cause we know that if she call Dee, he will definitely get to her immediately.

Something is definetely off.

By the way, April changed Don’s profile pic.Yeah, the first one is very informative since Donnie is a turtle and he’s purple and he has bandana. Seems like April have done it by herself, editing the photo of real turtle. She didn't put a lot of effort into this, this image doesn't show her real attitude towards Don. But second is more personality-tinged. Sleeping Donatello in all his gear - this detail can tell us about only one thing - he was photographed when he fell asleep after his sleepless night(s) working hard at something - is something she can catch or receive by boys (namely speaking, it’s Leo, according to Ben Schwartz stated in an interview, that if Leo had an Instagram account, that 60 to 70% of his photos would be his brothers caught sleeping or slipping on things). And still. April has a dorky and little embarrassing pic of Donatello and this is... Interesting and cute?

This profile pic remind me about ROTTMNT: Sound off! (2nd issue)

The next station is “The Purple Game”.

Another episode in which the interaction of the characters is small in timing, but great in content.

And once again: they have a lot in common. I’d never tired of repeating this thing ‘cause the series do the same trick, showing one thing from different points of view. April and April shares the same taste in games, the same attitude, the same mojo. 

But the most important thing here is how D&A interacrions are shown in this episode. Unlike other episodes, the interaction here is indirect, is provided by gaming.

Their customized avatars reflects their personality. I mean, the colour schemes (though Donatello has never shown any interest in yellow, he used it for customization of his persona), the way their avatars looking. Game even refering to Sherlock_Corn as “she”, albeit it’s impossible to refer to her avatar in female pronoun. Because, you know, design and nickname?

And the in-game interaction of the avatars resembles D&A irl relationships. Bootyyyshaker 9000 don’t like togetherness, he’s looking like Donnie’s expectation of himself (cool and tough guy, as D sees himself in his own dreams)

Their dialogue

Actually. Actually, Donnie and April are not able to hear each other as game has no voice chat, but their lines make an perfect dialogue nevertheless.

April:Bootyshaker9000? Donnie? 

Donnie:April? You’re the last person I need to destroy to achive rank №1!

April:Ditto!

Both:There can only be one!

Donnie said the cheat combination, so April would know for sure what he is supposed to do, but she has no idea.

So, once again: their sync is incredible.

And can we talk about that?

April’s attack

As it seems, attacks may be customized by players. Bootyyshaker has attack that refers at Donatello main feature - superior intellect.

And this attack isn’t effective, because REAL April O’Neil has a resist towards it. She has known D for years, she knows what he’s capable of, she’s aware of his nerd side. April’s immune to it, so Sherlock_Corn is.

 Sherlock_corn has a default attack - kernel cannon. It’s nod to her nickname: kernel, corn, the same book. But her second atteck is something reflecting her personalitiy. Plus, April is aware of Donnie’s “fear” of togetherness. All’s fair in love and war, right?

April took a lot of BS9000 hp by her “friendly hugs”. And, by the way, his sweet reaction for hugs.

So:

The selection of the final opponent. It might be literally anyone, but we wouldn’t be able to see Dee’s obsession in that case. Yeah, he’s already had a  demon possesion ™, but it was too easy to him to win. No challenge. No “kill or be killed”, “It’s me or you” mojo.  He needed some tough gamer for challenging, to develop his character, push him too far. And  April, actually, is an excellent choice to reveal the character of certain purple turtle.To expose his true colours. And April do a great job: they know each other, so battle will be spicy, they are both compepitors, they are so alike, so it would be intersting to watch Donatello vs April. And it will, ‘cause In-game April and In-game Don is somewhat different than them usual.

April is Don’s slayer for sure. She’s good at gaming, her last attack was almost fatal for him. So he had to to cheated on her. 

Captain Cuddlecakes. Yes, she know about his afraid of togetherness. And there’s lovey-dovey attack animation with this cuddling and Donatello’s persona behaves like him. And it was SPECIAL RUN, so... I haven’t the foggiest why. Cute detail, I mean.

Just look at it.  Isn’t it cute?(at least we got their hugs somewhere... kinda. kinda.)

“Snow Day“, albeit  being family episode, shows a lot about D&A relationship through “family war”.

First of all, the same taste in films.   

Donnie’s already shown the same attitude to fashion, scary things as Cap O'Neil, April shares the same gamer’s mojo as Donatello, but now? We have Donnie and April that are loving the same movie.

For love of purple supernovas, of all the Jupiter Jim’s movies (and there are more than 60 of them), that's a convinient coincidence, they like the same movie.

It stated in series several times that Dee is fond of Atomic Lass. He had crush on her when he was child, he admires her by all his heart, so it will make sense if films with this character he would be his favourite. It’s logical, isn’t it?

Atomic Lass, even if she is part of JJ-universe, however, isn't in every movie. Leo described "JJ: Pluto vacation IV" and there is no sights of Atomic Lass. Like, at all. 

Nevertheless, April’s claimed that “PV-4” is the best movie of the time, and Don agrees. 

April:What the whaaaat? Hold up, Skip. “Jupiter Jim Pluto Vacation 4″ is the best JJ movie  of all time.

Donnie:Ranked, by us, just now. So it’s basically official, no arguing.

And they do this thing again. Reflecting each other. Facial expressions, intonations, poses and etc. Haven’t I mentiones that? Mirroring is natural way to build communication. People, who communicate enthusiastically, who have sympathy to each other, feelings of certain nature, unconsciously copy each other's poses.

Direct reflection and close contact have a strong effect. This is used between lovers, people with close relationships or interested in each other.

And you can see that during not only episode, but through the whole series. 

Poses, gestures, facial expressions they share constantly. Even if they are apart, they are mirroring each other, showing their bound. Because Apritello is not always about sitting close, holding hands and blushing. Apritello is about staying together even if they are not.  It’s about solid foundation, about synergy, about chemistry Donnie and April share. And all of these are not always so obvious and clear, evident. But so realistic nevertheless.

And that’s why they splitted off the fam - they are too close and alike. 

I stated it before but DonniexApril team is way more effective than Donniexbrothers team. Donatello and April are equal, worth each other. They are comfortable with each other, their teamwork is amazing. 

They are always near, close to each other for the entire episode. Stand up for each other, side by side. They have no need to do team-building, because their sincronization is incredible. April works well together with Donnie, their skills compliment each other. 

I love that April in a first place look at Donnie to check is everything alright.

And a cherry on top?

This inviting gesture. Donnie just watched all along how his brothers and April try to throw some cold water on this situation (khem, it slipped). But when April call him with this inviting gesture, he’d like to help. 

In other words, he was waitng when April requests for his help.    

Composition’s boners

Sometimes it happens during the show, but this episode beat hte score at this point. I say only one word: physics. Or, more precisely, the force of attraction. Or, maybe Mayham.

... Anyway.

Fitting in the type

April can play not so nice against her enemies, she got steady hand and meanness, merciless and reclessness. She’s passionate and kinda badass, sassy - in a positive way, she’s baddest girl who can kick your butt if you mess with her, and she really good at this. 

She has a fire, and Donnie likes that. Dee never stated that directly but miss O’Neil impressed him so many times and in different way so it’s kinda pretty obvious. 

Just look how Donatello reacted the way April took Raph down a peg. Her actions are elegant, relaxed but really sly. She almost dare Raph to put his flag on top only to bring him down to Earth in really painful way. She destroyed Bros’ team so easily just by waiting a bit and by calling Mayham. 

She’s definetely got some pepper.

Pretty cute but baddest, don’t you think?

And Donnie was impressed for sure, he admitted it - “That is fun for me”. He don’t even stand a chance, c’mon: she’s smarass and elegant, she can be mean and cute at the same time. 

Even though that’s it for season 1 analysis (the last series is more appropriate  to review as part of 2nd season, plus it was a reaally big post, I need some time)

You can refresh this whole situation in the car 1 and the car 2 or follow the hashtag #apritello express as you please. It’s a pleasure of mine, keep in touch :)

[whichpercydoyouthink]

The Handmaiden (2016)

Since diving into the world of Thai dramas, I’ve noticed a great imbalance between mlm content and wlw content out there in general and my search for more good wlw shows or movies (Thai or otherwise), while not completely fruitless, has been a little frustrating. So, when I stumbled across this movie, I was so happy. Not only did the quality and budget look great but it seemed to have an interesting plot. And this movie really impressed me, from its twisting plot to the complicated characters to the gorgeous dresses and beautiful music. The plot twists, though. Maybe I’m just blind because I did not see any of it coming but I am all here for where they took me because damn.

I generally prefer to avoid mentioning spoilers as much as I can but I’m afraid this time I can’t not talk about the two major plot twists so small disclaimer here.

But first, the plot: hired as an accomplice to by con man posing as a count, thief Sook Hee (Kim Tae Ri) embarks on a mission to pose as the new maid of a rich Japanese heiress Lady Hideko (Kim Min Hee) in order to trick her into falling in love and running away with the Count to get her fortune. Things seem to go smoother than expected until Sook Hee starts to realise that she doesn’t want Hideko to marry the Count due to her own blooming feelings for the heiress. Conflicted between love and greed, Sook Hee becomes tangled in a mess much bigger than she first realised as she fights for a happy ending amidst the plotting and desires of powerful men.

I swear it’s not a tragedy, despite what it says on the tin and the way things go like a third of the way into the movie. This movie really takes you on a journey back and forth in time where every detail counts.

One of the things I found interesting was how the film was structured. By that I mean we have a part one to start us off, followed by a part two that makes you question everything you have watched, and ended with a part three that somehow manages to catch you by surprise even more and ending things with an awesome and slightly gruesome bang. Thinking back over it trying to figure out the reasoning behind this structure and I sort of came to the conclusion that, you know, three parts, three main characters, right? And it kind of makes sense if you think about it, considering who exactly the main focus of each part is. Because what I really loved about this movie was how it played around with the power of perspective and how that perspective can mightily change the importance of something, or a particular scene. Sook Hee is the main character for the first part, diving into the plot just as ignorant and clueless as we are only to be slapped with the plot twist as we watch everything we thought we understood crumble at the end. Because then it’s part two and you realise that Hideko is a much more complex character than you first were shown and suddenly the stakes are a lot higher than before because there’s a new main character and a new villain to the story. Only, in part three, it turns out Sook Hee wasn’t as oblivious as we first thought, and maybe we weren’t seeing the entirety of Sook Hee’s perspective all of this time. Maybe it’s more complex than that because then it’s the Count whose turn it is to be oblivious. But even then, he’s not the real main character, not even in this part.

The way I interpreted the story was two women who had already spent their lives carving a place for themselves in a man’s world, finding their own happiness in each other away from men and their desires. Hideko is very much trapped by her uncle in his twisted stories, sexualising her as the other men do. She has no choice but to use it to survive even as it slowly drives her insane inside, becoming a twisted and more calculating version of herself. Sook Hee has always had to fight for survival, ready to take advantage of others to satisfy her greed and stay alive. She is not so much trapped by men’s desire in that she frees Hideko from it, showing her sex outside of the books she was forced to read, forced to embody. Even though I personally found the sex scenes a little much, I could kind of understand the significance of it towards the end. In a way, Sook Hee showed Hideko a world new to her where she could put her pleasure first, rather than having to “perform” for other people’s desires, as well as showing her what real love could feel like.

One of my absolute favourite scenes is when Sook Hee finds out all about the readings and all the sex books and “performances” and she just. Gets so mad. I felt like it was something I hadn’t really known how to feel about the entire time, and maybe Hideko had felt the same way, just letting it all happen with a smile because she had had no choice and had to lock her feelings inside. But when Sook Hee gets so angry, I was suddenly feeling all those emotions too because it is horrifying and that is exactly how it should be reacted to and I’m so glad that Hideko was able to see that. To be able to look back on all that abuse and treatment and realise just how much she had gone through. To have someone that could be mad for her even if she couldn’t, someone who cared about her enough to ransack that damn library and trash everything. I just know that as Hideko followed Sook Hee around while she rampaged, watching her silently, she was falling in love all over again.

Speaking of Hideko, in part one, I wasn’t a fan of her character. She was gorgeous but she felt a little empty and so I was wondering what exactly going to happen. Then in part two, a completely different Hideko was revealed, and it made so much more sense. I really thought she was an interesting character, more so than Sook Hee who, while being sweet and heroic, was a little naïve. Seeing Hideko grow up, it’s clear that she was a blank slate, absorbing everything around her until she became a mix of everyone she knows. Like when she slaps the maid to take out her anger from the forcefulness and punishment from her uncle. Like when she uses the Count’s own words against him. Like when she seems to carry her aunt’s depression with her and even tries to kill herself in the exact same way. Like when Sook Hee swears in front of her and Hideko picks it up and starts saying “fucking hell” on her own. Everything her uncle put her through, everything she silently observed and internalised, it all helped her to morph into her role and adapt for her own survival, twisting her into someone intelligent enough to play and manipulate everyone around her. It’s also a cool way of showing just what she’s overheard, just how much she knows and foreshadowing some of the plot twists. But in the end, most of all, I was just happy that she was able to be freed and find her happiness.

One little shoutout for the song at the end “The Footsteps of My Dear Love” by Gain and Minseo because it was beautiful and made the ending feel so satisfyingly epic, the perfect end to the legendary escaped lovers Hideko and Sook Hee.

A really good movie all around and I highly recommend although be warned there is explicitly sexual scenes as well as suicide, torture and er quite bloody dismemberment at one specific scene. Other than that, enjoy.

[shibarirobot]

Aizawa fic - CH3 - Entrapment

18+ Only! SFW (for now)

Shouta Aizawa x Villain!OC/Reader (?)

CH1

CH2

!!TW!! mentions of abuse, trauma, blood

Above are the links to the first two chapters, but for those that just want to get to it, I will briefly summarize. The main character here(who I choose to keep very nondescript so anyone can enjoy this, that may change as things get more physical between them and our hero. I will continue using they/them pronouns for this, but I have lady parts and will probably end up using those words.) is a villain that has just stolen information, fought Aizawa and made an escape to a roof where they fought with a member of their crew and Maybe(?) probably killed them.

Thank you for reading! 

Enjoy! x

~

Sirens blare behind me as cops start to arrive at the scene. I pull the hood on my jacket up over my head and dip around the corner. I hadn’t tried to stick around long enough for them to show up, but left without a quick way off the roof after tossing that damn bat off the side, I had to take the stairs. It was a long way down, but the stairwell was entirely connected all the way to the ground floor, I would have been seriously pissed off if I had to find multiple sets of stairs. My face is mostly obscured by my hood, but I look down everytime a random citizen passes by. I can never be too careful about being seen. 

I reach into my pocket and feel for my marble, my anxiety is rising quickly as a group of four teen girls walks towards me on the sidewalk. I almost freak out when my pocket turns up empty, but then I remember that I threw it, that it’s the only reason I’m still walking free. This brings me slight peace before I hear giggling and sneer to myself. High schoolers. I look at their uniforms, even better, hero students. I pull the drawstrings on my hood and it scrunches around my face, hiding me further. Anonymity isn’t the only reason I prefer not to be seen, but it’s the most self preserving reason, the one that makes the most sense. The other is because I’m afraid. Afraid of what they could say, of what they could think. I’ve heard it all, but it never fails to sting a little when the unfiltered truth of others thoughts wash over me. 

Weirdo. What. A. Freak.

OMG what are they wearing?

Damn, why do I always have to walk on the outside? Don’t you all care at all if I get grabbed?

Please don’t rob us, please don’t rob us.

Look away. Just look away.

I pull the drawstrings tighter and walk slightly faster, trying to push their thoughts from my brain, but failing grandly as all I can focus on is how much I don’t fit in, how little the rest of the world cares for people that don’t fit in the cookie cutter mold of societal expectations. The girls are having a light hearted conversation amongst themselves as I pass by, a complete confliction to the sour, curdled thoughts that had just slipped out. My eyes are glued to my feet as I take one step after the other, my legs feel like lead as I fight the urge to scream at them and silence their brain functions. I’m so focused on getting myself away from those girls that I barely register the man walking in front of me, talking loudly on the phone. I thump into his back, my eyes still strained down at the tips of my boots. He looks down at me, surprised. I can feel his eyes on me, feel the shock as his words falter into the phone mic. 

Woah. All black, huh? 

Trying to avoid a conflict, I duck to the side and mutter a curt ‘sorry’ below my breath, already shuffling off. He reaches out to me though, reaching for my shoulder. “Hey, wait. Sorry to bump into y-” 

I jerk away without looking. “Don’t touch me… please.” I cough the pleasantry out, it’s hard to hold myself back when all I want to do is swear at him and rip his eyes from his skull, knowing full well this is only a minor inconvenience, not a stopping block for me. I slightly turn my head, looking up at him out of one eye, he looks down at me, stunned. 

Wait… Is this the one?

Who is this man? He looks slightly familiar, but I can’t quite place him. He’s got long blonde hair, pulled into a simple ponytail and a goatee that makes him look like he still thinks the year is 2008. My eyes fall back to my feet as I take quick paces away from him. I don’t know him, but it seems like he might know me, which is definitely a bad sign. My anxiety swells again as I feel the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. This really can’t be good. I can still feel him watching me as I retreat, but his focus shifts back to his phone as someone yells on the other end of the receiver. “Yah, yah! I’m right around the corner. Get off my back, Shouta… I said I’m right around the corner! … No! I’m not in ‘uniform’, it’s my day off!” I let my anxiety roll off my shoulders as I get farther away from him and can no longer hear his shouting. I’m not sure why he threw me off so much, but I’m happy to be crossing the street and leaving his line of vision, turning an extra corner, just to be safe. I can’t afford anyone following me right now.

I’m still a bit rattled as I step down the stairs to the underground train tunnels. The tunnels are old, abandoned years ago after a train derailed and collapsed several tunnels. There were so many casualties, they shut down the entire train system after that, but by then technology had become so advanced compared to the subway that they didn’t even bother rebuilding. The city just closed off the tunnel entrances to the public. Citizens and tourists still come down to the platforms to take pictures and read plaques about the deceased. It’s ridiculous really. They didn’t know any of the people that died, had no connection to them, they would have no clue about the lives lost here if it hadn’t been all over the news. What the news wouldn’t tell the unsuspecting audience of sheep, is that it was actually a hero that crashed the train. The media told the world that a minor earthquake had derailed the train, which was only partially true. A minor earthquake had caused the crash, but a hero had caused the earthquake. A hero was the direct cause of so many shortened lives, innocent and corrupt alike, all dead within seconds. The media just swept that under the rug, not a single news coverage even mentioned his name as they described the tragedy. He continued his hero work as if nothing had even happened, as if he hadn’t murdered the very people he vowed to protect, as if he wasn’t the sole reason those people died. My sister was among those lost. She wasn’t my only family, but the only one I liked, the only one that made life even bearable. A tear rolls down my cheek and I wipe it away in frustration, no time for emotions. No time for tears. No time to let myself wallow, because I know once I start on that path, I’ll never stop. I’ll cry until I can’t breathe, until my eyes are swollen shut, until my lungs give out. So I cut myself short. No tears.

The platform is empty when I reach the tracks, the silence echoing. This is the only place I’m free of everyone else’s trilling thoughts buzzing in my brain, the thick concrete walls jamming their signal from getting to me. I release a long awaited sigh, the anxiety finally subsiding and leaving a slight hunger in my stomach. I had been so worked up I forgot to get food. I pull the hood off my head and hop down onto the tracks, walking them like a balance beam, a habit I picked up in my free time. At this point, I don't even put my hands out at my sides. I’ve done this so much, I’m sure I could walk it with my eyes closed. I do close my eyes, basking in the complete silence that surrounds me. Silence that reminds me of the moments I was fighting Eraser Head, the moments where he took my quirk and my head was actually empty. Even now it’s not quite like that, there’s still a ringing in my ears and a hum in the back of my head like static over a radio channel. It’s never been completely quiet inside my head, it only ever fades to background noise, not like when I was with him, when he was staring at me so intensely. I know it’s because he couldn’t look away, because of his quirk, but part of it made me feel… wanted. No one has ever looked at me like that, with such incredible intensity in their eyes. I shake my head, feeling crazier than usual. There’s no way he could want me, no way that I’m not just pushing my own desires onto his actions, no way that I’m not just famished for someone to hold me in their arms like he had held me in his scarf. 

Now I know I’m acting foolish. His scarf? Really? He was attacking me, he was fighting me, he’s a hero goddammit. I should be hating him and working up ways to bring his demise, but instead I’m thinking about what it would be like to see him without his hostility, to watch his face as he slept, to see tears trail down his face, to see him begging on his knees. I want to see his vulnerability, surprisingly, without any intention of exploiting it. I just want to see him. I have to see him. I look down and realize I’m pacing. I shake myself again and head for a service tunnel that I’ve commandeered to become my little hideout. It’s really not much, but it’s all mine and 100% off the grid. Maintenance personnel don't even come down here. I’m completely alone and I love it. No prying eyes, no unwanted thoughts, just me and the cold concrete. It’s heavenly. 

I moved down here full time a few months after my sister died and it became clear that no one was fixing up the tunnels. My biological carrier, the woman I refuse to call my mother, had begun drinking immediately. Not that she was a stranger to alcohol before, but it had only gotten worse. Her drunk thoughts quickly became her sober thoughts and all of them had to do with me. Why my sister had died instead of me, why she was the one that had to be stuck with me, why she had to have been cursed with such a freakish child. One that cried all the time, one that split her head in two when they had a tantrum, one that couldn't even be put into daycare to protect the other children, one that put her husband in a vegetative state. I became nothing more than a burden to her, if there was any part of her that still loved me, loved me like a mother is supposed to, it was buried deeper in her mind than even I could find. 

The mental abuse wasn’t what broke me though, the neglect hadn’t done it either. It was the night she made me beg. She had drunk so much that I felt drunk, felt drunk off the vertigo thoughts she was pulsing out into the room. She stumbled into my room, slurring speech and telling me how ungrateful I was to have someone like her that would take such good care of me. I should have known better, should have been quiet like usual, but I scoffed at that. The wench barely even knew how to take care of herself, the notion honestly tickled me. That did her in. She lunged at me and threw me to the floor, smacking me in the face once on both cheeks. She rolled off of me and left the room as drunkenly as she had come in. I just layed there and cried, hoping she was done, but knowing she wasn’t. I heard the door creak and felt her grab me by the hair, shoving me into a dining chair. The confusion must have been evident on my face, because she hit me again and made quick work of tying me to the wooden chair. She left me there, tied up, for days. She made me beg for food. Beg for water. Beg to be cleaned after I had pissed myself. She made me apologize for everything I had ever done. She made me admit I was a monster, one that hurt people for fun, because I wanted to, not because I couldn’t control my quirk. I can see now how that narrative would be easier for her to stomach, having a person to blame instead of accepting the shitty facts of reality, but I was her child. I had been pure. She was supposed to love me, protect me.

I stop walking, letting my renewed hatred for that woman settle on my shoulders like a warm, heavy blanket. Resolve hardening my heart and warping the soft emotions I had just been there. I heave a sigh and reach into my jacket pocket again, feeling the flashdrive from before. This is what I need. File upon file of precious documents and information right here in the palm of my hand, information that now exists nowhere else. 

I start walking again, exhausted from today's events. There had been so many close calls. I’m still reeling from a couple of them, my head still not on fully straight. I make it to my little pad and flop down on the mattress I have tucked away in the corner. I unzip my boots and massage my feet a little, pulling them into my lap to sit lotus style. My laptop had been haphazardly tossed into my bed, so I reach over and plug it into the charging cable snaking from the wall, also pushing the little flashdrive into the side port and letting all the documents download. I curl into a ball on my mattress and flop to the side, I’m so tired and so hungry, I’m not sure what to do. I have no food here so I'm going to  have to go back up to the surface level, but it’s still too light out, I’ll wait until the sun has fully set then go stop by a street vendor. In the meantime however, I treat myself to a nap. I hadn’t realized how heavy my eyes were until my head hit the soft material of my bed. 

I’m not sure how much time has passed since I fell asleep, but I wake up to my computer beeping. The download is complete. I smile to myself and close the laptop, removing the flashdrive from the side, again not bothering to eject it. I push myself up into a sitting position and rub my hands over my entire face and into my hair, fully waking myself up some more. I look down at myself, still in my full clothes and sigh, I guess I had been far more tired than I thought. My mind drifts to the dream I was having before my eyes had peeled back open. I only really dream when I sleep hard, which isn’t often since I’ve basically ruined my REM cycles. In my dream, I was with Eraser Head again, but this time we weren’t fighting, not really. He still had me caught in that damn capture weapon, but I was completely naked, my body exposed at all the right points for him to reach out and grab me, hit me, bite me. The memory of how his scarf felt against my skin heats up my face, my body clenching tightly. How does he still do this to me? He’s not even near me. 

I run a hand down my neck, trying to calm myself. I can’t get all riled up because of some hero. Can I? Another flash from my dream breaks through to the forefront of my mind. Eraser Head has me by the jaw, his mouth so close to mine I would be able to feel his breath on my lip if it had been real. That’s when he sensually licks my plush bottom lip, sucking it into his mouth and biting down softly, just enough to drive me crazy. Just enough for me to want more, to feel it in real life. I yell and pound my fist into the mattress. GET!! IT!! TOGETHER!! I launch myself onto my feet, tugging on my boots, determined to get his imagined ministrations out of my mind. I still need to eat anyway. The hunger tugging on my stomach and making it growl loudly, protesting the nap that had zapped away the rest of my evening. I look at my watch and groan, it's already past 9pm. 

I head back down the service tunnel that leads to my little crash pad, there’s a small, unpopular ramen stand I like to go to when it’s late. It's not the best bowl of ramen in the world, but it gets the job done and I’m not too picky when it comes to noodles in warm broth. The stand is right outside one of the stairwells into the underground platforms. The lights from the neon sign flicker dimly, it reads ‘OPEN to Business’. I slink down onto one of the stools and drop my money onto the counter, ordering a beef bowl. The man on the other side of the counter pours the broth and cuts vegetables before serving me the bowl with a small bow of his head. I return his formality before delving into the bowl. The soup smells better than usual, or maybe I’m just insanely hungry, either way the first bite leaves me melting into the bowl, hunched over, consuming the food at such a rate it would appear as if I hadn’t eaten in days. I hit the bottom of the white bowl in record time and slam down a few coins demanding more. The chef raises his eyebrow, but complies, almost over filling another bowl for me.

Hungry, ha? Good! Eat more!

I smile at him, actually warmed by his slight kindness, but it is soon forgotten as I begin slurping down noodles, beef, and cooked vegetables. I finish the second bowl almost as quickly as the first and slouch back, patting my very full belly. I was definitely hungrier than I realized. I sigh, content and sluggish as I slide off the side of the stool. I can’t help the light feeling in my chest as I shove my hands into my pockets. The moon is high in the sky and the night air is cool on my cheeks, it’s almost serene. I decide to take a little stroll, there’s another entrance to the platform a few blocks down, connecting to the other side of the service tunnel. I start my walk with casual steps, I’m not in a rush and I just want to breathe in the fresh air a little bit longer. There’s an empty orange soda can on the ground and I kick it with the inside of my foot, sending it skittering forward a few paces, stopping in a perfect place for me to kick it again. I continue kicking the can along with me as I walk, until I kick it a little too hard and it goes tumbling down into a storm drain. I shrug and round a corner, the can just a distraction anyways, something to fiddle with. I reach into my pocket and forget again that my marble isn't there. A prickle of nerves climbs up my arm and to the back of my neck, making my hair follicles stand on end. 

Suddenly alert, I tense my shoulders and scan the area, looking above me as well this time, I won’t be taken out from the rooftops again, but still I see nothing. The air around me has shifted. It’s no longer peaceful and delicate, it’s eerie and cold, sending a shiver through me again, the anxiety making me even more jumpy as I hear little sounds around me. Nothing out of the ordinary, city sounds, but it all gets to me, sending my heart rate in an upward spike. I start to run, unsure of where to go. I can feel someone, but where? It’s driving me crazy. I know there’s someone. I know it, but the absolute lack of a presence is what’s really fucking me up. An ubiquitous white flash darts out at me from the dark. I dodge quickly, leaning back so far my head barely misses slamming into the concrete below me. There’s another flash and I throw my legs out from underneath me, catching myself in a near handstand before flinging myself backwards again, still unsure of where the flashes are coming from. 

Before I can land back on my feet, I see it, a dark figure blur by me from the corner of my eye. I don’t know what or who it is, but my first instinct is to whip around and try to use my quirk, still only barely sure of the figure’s location. When I spin around, I’m immediately bombarded by two sensations. First, is the clarity in my brain that only comes when Eraser Head is muting my quirk. The second, is the heat that grows in my stomach when I realize exactly who I’m up against. My chest flushes, and my thoughts flash back to my dream, the way he had halfway kissed me. That’s all the distraction he needs to scoop me up in his capture weapon and have me dangling upside down from the nearest street pole. 

Seeing him from this angle is different as the blood starts to rush to my head, making me feel dizzy. I thrash around a little, to no avail, before allowing myself to give up, feeling too sluggish from my meal anyways. Even if I manage to get out of this coil I could barely expect to actually get away. Eraser Head slowly saunters up to my upside down body, rocking from side to side, he looks menacing and my body clenches tight again. Gezzus fuck, this man is hot. “You wanted to see me again. That’s what you said, isn’t it?” He pulls the goggles covering his eyes up unto his forehead and I can see his whole face. There’s a scar underneath his eye that I hadn’t seen before, it marks his skin beautifully and I can’t help but imagine what he looked like with the fresh wound, blood running down his face. I bet it was gorgeous. He’s a striking figure on his own, but covered in blood? I gulp heavily, the downward gravity making it hard. Eraser bends his knees, squatting down so we’re on an even eye level, his are still glowing red and I’m reeling from the proximity. He’s so close. He’s right there. I could reach out and grab him if my arms weren’t strung up to my sides. 

I can’t touch him, but he’s still close enough for me to throw my head back, letting the momentum force me back down to collide my skull with his. I hear a crunch and feel warm blood trickle up my face from my nose, it's in my mouth too. Eraser stumbles back, not prepared for a headbutt. It’s true what they say, no one wins in a headbutt, but it feels like a win as I see a small trail of blood coming from his forehead, it’s so much hotter that it’s my blood. He looks even better than I had imagined, of course he does. My skull is pulsing already and my quirk is returned to me as he tries to steady himself. He does, quicker than I had hoped. My head is still splitting and I don't have enough time to regain myself before he’s taking my quirk again. Damn, he’s good. I chuckle to myself, licking the blood from my lips. This is actually kind of fun. Eraser Head looks down at me again, gripping my hair tightly now to keep me from moving again. His eyes are wild, his jaw tight. It’s taking all of him not to beat the living shit out of me. I can tell. 

Then his expression changes and he looks mischievous, teasing even. The slight confusion I have is short lived before he yanks my head forward, my neck craned at an awkward angle to look directly up at him. “My turn.” He says, dropping my head so I’m swinging back and forth again, only able to see him every couple seconds. He takes a step back and I see him poise himself for a second, spinning into a roundhouse kick that connects with my temple and knocks me out cold.

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!

THINGS ARE DEF GONNA START HEATING UP FROM HERE!!!! stay tuned hehe XD

[mrswalkers-blog]

Falling in love with you

Chapter 13 - The Emptiness

Book: The Royal Romance AU ( Drake x MC & Liam x Olivia)

A/N: This is an AU that happens two years after Riley weds Drake. Drake has lost his memory of last 2 years due to an accident. He doesn’t remember meeting Riley who is pregnant with their first child. Unaware of this fact and not able to cope with the strange new life he has woken up to , he flees Cordonia.

Liam marries Olivia for purely political purposes. Olivia on the other hand marries him because she is madly in love with him. But after two years on marriage and unable to produce an heir and unable to get Liam to love her, she asks for a divorce.

Summary of last Chapter : Two years back : Liam is suddenly obsessed with having a heir - a child in his life. Olivia feels she is not ready, but still supports Liam in trying for an heir. Now : Liam feels empty without Olivia. Media on the other hand is having a field day spreading rumors about Duchess Riley’s pregnancy, mysterious absence of Duke Drake and Farmers protest for Dam.

Liam meets Olivia at their first hearing for the divorce case. According to Cordonian law, they need to wait for six months before the divorce are finalized. Olivia tells him about whereabouts of Drake and asks him to bring him back.

Warnings: PG

PLEASE NOTE: Past chapters links are available in my bio.

Please Re-blog, Comment or at least hit like if you like this series.

Six months after the Royal Wedding “Still no sign of Royal Heir!” Olivia heard Regina talking - rather loudly - to Liam in dinning room. She stopped outside the room, looking at her husband and her step-mother-in-law at the breakfast table. “Mother, your voice is getting loud.” Liam said without looking up from the file in his hand. He kept flipping pages.

“I can see you are trying to avoid me.” Regina said sternly. Liam sighed and looked up at her, “Mother, there might be other pressing issues in a kings life that need his immediate attention.”

“Do you have any idea that failing to produce an heir can cause you to loose your throne?” Regina asked him, “I am aware, and we are trying.” Liam admitted, “What more do you want?”

“I think she should see .... I mean both of you should see a doctor. I am sure that would help.” She said softly , trying to sound concerned.

“Thank you for your concern, Queen Mother”  Olivia said entering the hall. ”Of course,” Regina forced a smile.” I worry about both of you.” ”That is kind of you, but this is not the time to worry” Olivia sat beside Liam and took the file from his hands.”Its time to have some breakfast.” ”Liv!,” Liam glanced at Regina and cleared his throat ,”Olivia, I need to sign and send this trade agreement to China today. I was trying to figure out if it is beneficial to us.”

“It is not.” Olivia said serving a plate of poached eggs to Liam and herself from the spread on table.

Liam sighed “I am afraid you are right.” Liam said to Olivia,”but we will have to agree on their terms.”

“Even when you know that it is costing us dearly” Olivia said digging in her plate.”And not just the initial cost, we will be tied to pay them for decades.” “You must not interfere in the matters you dont understand” Regina advised Olivia,” We have been in good terms with China and not agreeing to their terms will mean...”

“It will mean we will be finally standing up for ourselves” Olivia said firmly. “But...” Liam was cut short by Olivia.

“Your Majesty.” she smirked.” You make a new agreement and write whatever terms you want. I will make sure that they get agreed on.”

Liam beamed,”I know that smile. You definitely have something up your sleeve.” he finally took a bite of his breakfast. “Care to share?”

“A lady never reveals all her secrets.” Olivia chuckled.” Just know that I have dirt on some pretty important people.”

“What would I do without you?” Liam smiled gratefully to Olivia.  Both of them enjoyed their breakfast, talking to each other and completely unaware that they were ignoring Regina sitting at the same table. None of them realized when she left the table rather fuming at the turn of events.

--- Later that day, Olivia did visited an OB/GYN. After several tests and examination, she was sitting with doctor in her cabin. Her clasped in each other , waiting for the report. She was looking hopefully at the doctor engrossed in the file , across the table. She took a deep breath, bracing herself for the news doctor had for her. “Your Highness”, the doctor paused, pressing her lips.

“Don’t worry.” Olivia said realizing the hesitation in doctor’s voice,” you can lay it  on me. I can say the report is not good from your face”. She braved a smile.

“Honestly, there is still hope” she showed her the report. “Your one ovary is completely damaged.“ she pointed at a sonogram apparently showing a damaged organ in her body supposed to be producing eggs. ”But there is another ovary, so I still have chance, right?” Olivia asked hopefully.

“Yes, but there are some complication in that too.” Doctor explained her.” You have a condition called PCOS. It is the reason for your irregular periods. And it is making it difficult to conceive.”

“So what options do we have.” Olivia asked. She didn’t want problems, she wanted solutions and desperately. 

“I will give you some medicine. But the main reason for PCOS is stress. You should try meditation. Relax a bit.” Doctor wrote a prescription and explained her the dosage and precautions she should take.

After listening to the doctor for several minutes, she asked the doctor, ”What are the chances of me getting pregnant doctor?”

"Well, right now there are very less changes, but after proper medication and working on your stress, i believe you will have good chances.” “Thank you, Doctor” Olivia said to the doctor and took her leave. There was still hope that she can produce an heir. She didn't know why she was so desperate to produce an heir. She never imagined herself to be a mother. Was she doing it for the throne? She didn’t care about it either. There was only one man whom she loved so much that she was ready to turn her life upside down and take up a responsibility of producing and raising an heir. She knew what the baby meant to him. How his eyes lit up when he talked about their future kid.

She was not sure how he would react knowing that Olivia was the reason they didn't have a heir yet. Would this push him away?

--

That day, when she entered their bedroom, Liam was working on his laptop on bed. He looked up and gave her a smile , before getting busy in his work. She thought about telling him about the slim changes of them getting pregnant. But she could never pluck up enough courage to talk to him. She changed in to her comfortable shorts nightwear and stood by her side of the bed for a moment, looking at Liam still busy on his laptop. She wished he looked at her. She wished he notice the turmoil going inside her. But Liam never looked up.

Olivia lied down on her side of bed , keeping her back towards Liam. She couldn't sleep, even after closing her eyes, her mind was playing several different scenes where she tells Liam that they might never have kids or Liam find out about it. And in each scene, she somehow always ends up loosing him.  

--- Now

Drake had his long hair tied carelessly in a man bun. Riding his favorite horse and feeling of air blowing through his hair made him feel alive for a while. He had fled Cordonia because he was feeling trapped, suffocated even. But now he was feeling empty. Only thing in his life was his time with the stallions in this ranch. He had hoped that moving away from Valtoria will help him clear his mind, but all he could think now was his brief time there. He wished that just as he had forgot about the last two years, he could forget the last two months as well. Make a new start.

But his past was not leaving his mind, and it seems it had caught up with him. His eyes caught the sight of two well dressed men near the gate talking to one of his fellow rancher. Before the rancher pointed to his direction,, he knew they had come for him. Their attire were enough to tell them apart in this part of the world.

He knew one day they would find him. He didn't expect it to be so soon. He turned the horse towards them. He climbed down the horse and walked toward his best friend and his god father. He gave a tentative smile to his childhood friend, who was now a king. But Liam didn't return the smile. His eyes were burning with hot anger.

'Liam!' Drake cautiously approached him, 'didn't think you will find me here.'  Liam took a quick steps towards him, and before Drake could understand anything else, a hard punch landed on his face making him stumble back a few feet.

'Hey you!' Three ranchers came running to rescue Drake.Bastien immediately stepped in front of Liam with one of his had on the gun in his belt and other stretched towards the men to stop them.

This did stopped the man, but they were now more alert on seeing the gun in the stranger’s belt.

Drake recovered from the blow he just suffered to see the tension in the air. He turned towards the ranch men , holding a hand up to gesture them to stay back. "It's alright! " He managed to say rubbing his jaw ," He is an old friend."

“Get me some ice please.” Drake asked one of the ranchers. The men disbursed leaving them alone - murmuring to each other and giving them a glance every now and then , just to be sure.

"Let's talk in my cabin." Drake led Liam and Bastien to his room. Bastien stood outside guarding the door after Liam and Drake went in.

"Great place you have" Liam said looking at the room Drake called his cabin.

"Well, it's enough for me." Drake shrugged. He opened the window to let some light and air in room. He switched on the small table fan.

“Seems like you are working out.”  Drake said rubbing his jaw.

“Exercise helps me focus." Liam replied weakly. His tone and choice of words were enough for Drake to understand his friends current state. Liam was using exercise a distraction to help him get over the divorce.  

Drake grabbed two tumblers and a cheap whiskey bottle. He poured small amounts in both the tumblers. Just about then, one of the rancher bought some ice in a small bucket.

“You didn’t say,  how you find me here.” Drake dropped two cubes in a tumbler and handed it to Liam.

“Olivia found you. She has her sources.” Liam took a small sip of the whiskey.”But Riley always knew where you were.”

“Did you notice the guy who didn't react when I punched you? The big guy - clean shaved. He is from Cordonia”  Liam informed him.

"I thought his accent was funny.” Drake smirked. But there was something which was not making any sense.“But why is she doing this? I mean keeping watch on me like this.She could have reached out.”

“She is trying to keep you safe and giving you freedom that you want. what more could you ask for,” Liam replied. He clenched and opened his fist looking at a bruise forming on his knuckles.

Drake wrapped some ice in a napkin and handed it to Liam. He took some more ice and started dabbing it to his jaw through another napkin. 

Liam was wrapping the napkin on his hand when he noticed the familiar looking news papers and magazines on his bed side table.

“You seem to be keeping an eye on us.”  Liam picked up the magazine that had run the article about speculating Riley’s pregnancy.

Drake felt his throat turn dry. He couldn't get this news out of his head since he saw in the magazine. “Is .... is it true?” he said gesturing to the article.

Liam looked in his eyes for a long moment before answering a short - “Yes”

Drake rubbed his hands on his face. He flopped down on the bed, hiding his face in his hands.

“I didn't know.... She didn't tell me. I wouldn’t have left...” he murmured excuses to calm down the overwhelming guilt.

“Why didn’t she tell you, Drake?” Liam asked. Although his voice was calm, Drake felt it hurt more than the punch he just received.

Is it mine? He wanted to ask, but he didn’t.

I thought you and her....he wanted to say, but he couldn’t.

“Why did you leave, Drake?” Liam sat down besides him.

“I thought if I left....” Drake paused , “You were getting divorce from Olivia....” Liam looked at him more confused.

Drake took a breath,”I knew you loved her.”

“Is it was this is about?” Liam asked.

“Why didn’t you marry her?” Drake asked, finally with a courage to look Liam in his eyes.

“Because , she chose you.” Liam sighed. Drake mock chuckled.

“What?” Liam asked.

”Ya,Like that could be true.” Drake scoffed,”Why would anyone chose me over you? I mean you are literally the King! and you are pretty amazing!”

Liam laughed,”I know! right?!” he shook his head,”Even I thought she was out of her mind. “ Liam paused, “It took a long time for me to accept the fact - but you are not that bad your self, Walker.”

Was it true? did she really chose him over Liam? There was no one in the world who would have chose him over Liam - for anything - let alone for something as important as marriage - to spend their entire life with him. The over caring, the keeping watch - all was because she cared for him. Drake sat frozen as the realization slowly downed on him.

“But.... you....” he paused,” Did I ? ....came between you two?” he stammered. 

“Drake!” Liam placed a hand on his knee.” You love her and she loves you. That’s what matters.”

“And You?” Drake asked trying to read his face. Only few people could read past Liam’s stoic expression. Drake was one of them.

“I?”, Liam gave him reassuring smile.”I am over her Drake. He is my dear friend and wife of my best friend - whom, by the way, I miss so much.” Liam wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

Drake smiled. “I miss you too.”

“Then let’s go. “ , Liam clapped his back, “I am here to take you home.”

“I ..don’t think I can face her, Liam” Drake shook his head. The way he behaved with her, pushed her away.

“God, Drake!” Liam stood up,” If you cannot own up to your mistakes and try to correct them, you are not  the man I thought you were.”

Drake looked at him conflicted. He knew he wanted to go back. But was he ready to take up the responsibilities of his new life? To face Riley?

“Come on buddy,” Liam said to him,”She needs you, Cordonia needs you.I need you”

When could he ever refuse to Liam? Not only did he felt obligated to be there for Liam, he knew he could trust Liam with his life.

“How can I ever say no to you?” He smiled and stood up.

Liam smiled and wrapped him a brotherly hug. Drake hugged him back , feeling relaxed after a long time. He hoped this would be the beginning of a better time.

“Okay then lets hurry.” Liam pulled away and checked his watch. They might still make it.

“We might have to give you a makeover on the plane.” He said looking at Drake from head to toe.

---

Disclaimer: The characters belong to Pixelberry.

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[clementineesotsm]

THE KING: ETERNAL MONARCH EP 15, My Appreciation and How It Made Me Feel

PM Koo teams up with LR. At least that is what PM was thinking. But for LR, slight different. He thinks PM will somehow give advantage for him but ended up disappointed, because PM cannot become a queen, and suspended as a PM. She cant even near a high position now. She cannot get Gon or Kingdom of Corea and that pisses LR off. PM become greedy and put her guard down. He thinks LR wanted a cooperation and inform him that she will take Gon’s flute for her. Which makes LR mad and choke her 🤣🤣 LR asking her to bring him into Gon’s mom mass memorial day and leave her

Gon is back to kingdom now. He hugs Lady Noh so tight 🥺 he is thankful to her for everything that she have done for him. Apparently Gon indebted to her much. I loved her punchline “i know pyeha / 압니다 폐하” means she understand things that Gon cant even / doesn’t have to explain. I love their relationship

Gon exiled Prince Buyeong’s son so that he cannot go back to Corea, because he found out that he is LR accomplice on the treason night. Gosh i hate that man!

Apparently Gon took KSJ to Corea to let him see his real mom. This scene was well made! Acting wise, amazing. KSJ lines, amazing. Music, amazing! Poor KSJ. He is also growing up becoming a stoic character 🥺🥺

Conversation between KSJ and Gon feels a bit heavy. Gon told KSJ about his plan, apparently he dont plan to save himself this time. The target is to get or kill LR. So Gon is planning to go and sacrifice himself for the good 🥺🥺 i loooove Gon’s facial expression here. And his eyes speaks his fear but also trying to accept his fate. Something like “sigh-ing”

LR was back to Korea to prepare his big plan. But unfortunately he let his guard down, SJH put poison in the food to kill herself basically. And LR minion couldn’t save her because Gon was set to cross the portal at that time so times stops. SJH was finally relief to be able to die, but here i am crying 🥺🥺 and her using LR punchline before while dying was cool thought by the writer! “Did you pray?” !!!

And did you realize? LR face most of the time was always stain with blood. Poor him 😅

Another appreciation was to the editing team, they did a great job in this scene. Especially for the scoring 💯💯💯

LR took his gun and run outside, then he met Gon!

LR “i even transcends death, but how is it that im unable to avoid you? How did you find me here?”

Gon “it would be good if it was me alone, but im not.”

“Some one sets the time (SJH)

Someone chases after you (i assume this was KSJ/the detectives)

Someone prays for you to get caught (this could be Lady Noh and JTE)

And someone is going to fight you (Gon, JY, KSJ) “

Then LR said that Gon should have wait him at the memorial not confront him here. This kind of storyline was fresh for me too. Because usually story like this always go with “make the doomed happen first then resolve it after” but with TKEM, the main character manage to prevent the doomed before it happened. Which im fine with it because its possible. But i kind agree with LR. Can we get that chaos in the mass memorial first then solve it? That would be epic. But then maybe they dont have enough time to explore that. Maybe in another timeline, reality or universe. But this is also satisfying and well done. If you can prevent it, why not? That is more work in a smart way.

Gon then took LR to bamboo forest to check on how to use the flute to travel back to 1994. What Gon knew, the flute need to be whole inside to do so. But then how to do it was a bit tricky. It needs both LR and Gon to be inside the space between 0 and 1. Because each of their blood soak into each of the flute. Gon was a bit in dilemma because he need someone to go inside the gate with LR in order for it to happen. What scary was nobody knew whats going to happen with that person if he succeeded or fail. All assuming that person will go inside and dead. Then KSJ volunteered to do so. OMFG! P.S then we also got a glimpse of the portal when the flute was whole. Kind of cool. If fills with so many universe and possible of eternity life !

SO THE LR INTERROGATION THAT WE SAW IN EP 1 WAS ACTUALLY FROM EPS 15! Wahh im impressed. I did not see that coming! Gon also doing his final honor for SJH and buried / burned her body properly (brb cry 😭) and to prepare if something bad happen he ask secretary Mo to announce that Se Jin (Prince Buyeong granddaughter) will be the first in line to replace Gon if something happen to him 🥺🥺 Secretary Mo and JY looks worried

Then something weird happened. Suddenly the flower that Gon gave to JTE on eps 10 disappeared. JTE worried that Gon already preparing for the reset and he will be gone forever from her memories 🥺 she comes to see LR and ask where is the flute? LR was pissed here, because he don’t understand why people are not scared and tend to give their lives away to make things right. He doesn’t understand love 🥺🥺 and LR was stays evil to the end because he kills Se Jin and swap PM Koo mother. Which is very scary! KGE, LJJ, LMH, JEC acting in this sequence was out of this world. The director and all team was making this sequence very well too. All the thrilled was there even though it was just a short scene each. I loved them more now but we are left with only 1 episode for the finale 🥺🥺🥺

In Korea, JTE released Luna. JTE have a planned to go with LR into the space between 1 and 0 because she is afraid if Gon will alone doing his duty 🥺 She basically ready to leave Korea forever because she asked Luna to take her place while she was gone. JTE asking Luna to steal LR to bring him to JTE and JTE come to KSJ to ask for the flute and let her replace him to do the duty. And it was the most heartbreaking conversation between this two friends and one of the most heartbreaking confession i have ever watched. I loved how they shot this scene, the camera seems to be shaking, i think its cool and also the way KSJ holds JTE hand 🥺🥺

Kudos to KGE and KKN here! Damn! Where is your daesang again?!

Finally here we saw that jacket of doomed which we saw on eps 1 and eps 10 worn by Gon. Its his ceremonial outfit that he supposed to wear during his most glorious moments. And him following his destiny to die for the sake of doing right things, teared me up. Before he go back to the past, he visit Lady Noh for a final goodbye, seriously i cried. He told Lady Noh about kim sowol poems, Gon knew that she was coming from Korea. Gon was also conveying his feelings to her “thanks to you, i can read such a beautiful poems”. Gon asked Lady Noh to let him go again and the way she said “if i let you go this time, will you ever comeback?” And cried, teared me up too. Meanwhile JTE also prepared to go with LR inside the portal, she is using the necklace from Gon, the one that has the symbol of Corea 🥺 its for her also her glorious moments. Surprisingly Gon going inside the portal not alone, JY was there to company him. As what he promised, he will be there in any battlefield Gon is about to go through 🥺🥺🥺

How it made me feel:

What a solid episode! This eps making my eyes swelled. It was full with bittersweet moments, thrilling moments, a lot of goodbyes, a lot of revelation, and it left me anxious for the finale. How can they solved this all? Can we still get a happy ending? Also this episode was so cool because the ending is the beginning. What we saw on eps 1 was actually a flashback! No wonder the screen size was different. Like what they usually used for past events! Cool!

What i also wants to appreciate is Kim Eun Sook writing skill. I have to admit im not a big fan of her, sometimes her script was a bit cheesy, overly dramatic and predictable. But since mr sunshine and especially TKEM she changed that all and turns out to be more mature. And darker? For me TKEM is focusing more on doing the right things, it has values more than just a rich boys/cool boys meets a cool ordinary girls and falls in love premise and finish. But this time its about true value of love, true value of relationship, about responsibility, vulnerability. At some point it reminds me of harry potter. TKEM gave me the same feelings/premise to while i was reading/watching HP. I loved how it turned out so far, its up to the finale. Will it be one of the best series i have ever watched? Or no?

Also, i really loved how KES writes KSJ character, he has so many reason to be bad. But he did not. I loved how she portrays a very good example of stoicism in his characters. Very good 💯

Another appreciation is for the directing and cinematography, guys, you blown me away!

[slaveformingi]

You Belong To Me (M)

READER (y/n) X KANG YEOSANG (Ateez) Genre: Smut, BadBoy!Yeosang, Angst, Slight Fluff, School Setting. Word Count: 2594 Words. Summary: You find yourself in detention again but this time, you were trapped in detention with one of the schools bad boys, who also happens to be your ex. When the teacher has to leave for an emergency, you find yourself..... well, cornered.

(Author’s Note: Fix On! Majority of you wanted a bad boy Yeosang smut so here it is! Hopefully it is up to your expectations. For those of you who voted for Wooyoung, I’ll be posting his smut as soon as I finish it <hopefully tomorrow> 

PS: I think my writing is getting worst. For some reason, I feel like my English is starting to malfunction. What do you guys think? )

## “What did I even do to deserve this?” 

Your fingers tapping on your wooden desk. Eager to leave the classroom as soon as you can.

“You know what you did young lady. Now please stop tapping the table and keep quiet.”

You let out a heavy sigh. You were in detention. Again. The reason this time is because you yelled at your teacher and called her a whore for making you run laps on the field when you told her you didn't feel like it. 

You were the girl that everyone was afraid of. You weren't a bully nor were you rough with people, you just prefer to keep to yourself. But from time to time, you would pick a fight with who you felt was trying to use you or someone who generally pisses you off. That’s one of the reason why people would avoid you and why they were intimidated by you.

The teachers couldn't tame you, the more they tried the more you rebel. Your parents had long gave up on trying to turn you into a proper well-mannered girl yet you were just to stubborn. 

You were always alone and you never thought you needed anyone, until you met Kang Yeosang.

Yeosang was a rebel, he only played by his rules. He was also part of a very violent and popular gang known as Ateez, which was known to vandalise and terrorise the town you live in. He was known to be a very good fighter, very quick on his feet. 

You both crossed paths when you both got into the same fight with some other students. He took interest in you and you ended up dating. For a moment in time, you started to become more soft-spoken and cheerful. He was the happiness you didn't know you needed. He was always there for you and he always had your back. 

That was until you discovered that he was flirting with other girls behind your back. When you first heard about it, you thought he was just messing around because he was bored or something. But then he started to do it more often, he was even flirting with girls in front of you. That’s when you thought enough was enough, you loved him with all your heart but you didn't want to risk getting yourself hurt by him. So you decided to end things with him a few months ago.

He was shocked at first, thinking that you were joking. He kept on appearing in front of your house and contacting you as if you were still together. You resorted to more drastic measures, which included kissing another guy (who was totally a stranger to you) in front of him and saying that you’ve never loved him (Which was a total lie). But it worked. You finally got rid of him.

Ever since that happened, you didn't talk to each other. You ignored and avoided each other. There were times when you noticed he was making out with other girls in front of you, which you assumed was his attempt on making you feel jealous but you hid your jealousy from him.  You went back to being your cold self. You hid your jealousy by acting strong, fighting and rebelling whenever you can. Which brought you to where you are today, in detention.

But you weren't alone, out of everyone in the entire school, you manage to get into detention with the one and only Kang Yeosang. He sat a few seats behind you, his head buried in his arms on this desk. 

(Authors note: Idk how to properly describe the position but it’s like the one where you put your head down on the desk to sleep.. so yeah, that position)

“Miss Jung, can I please leave now. I need to get ready for a date.” you asked in your sweetest and politest tone. Attempting to escape the class.

Yeosang’s head shot up, he heard what you said and shot you a dirty look. You didn't notice this because you were looking at your teacher, hoping she would let you go. Yeosang’s hands turned into fist, he didn't like the thought of you going out with someone else.

“I’m sorry y/n, but you still have 2 hours of detention left.”

You sighed and stared out the window. Your brain searched for ideas on how you could escape the class. You didn't actually have a date, you just wanted to leave the room before Yeosang does. 

Suddenly the PA speaker boomed ; “All teachers please report to classroom 8B for an emergency meeting with the school board. Thank you.”

You couldn't help but smirk. It was as if someone had heard your pleas. 

“I need to go, you can leave now but both of you will have to replace another 2 hours of detention tomorrow.” 

With that your teacher packed up all of her stuff and rushed out of the room. You could hear the sound of her heels running down the main hall.

“Finally.” you said as you slipped out of your desk and dashed to the door to escape the class, but before you could step out of the classroom, you're hand was pulled back and the door was slammed shut.

You groaned in pain as you pulled your hand back. Your body was suddenly spun around and the next thing you knew you were facing Yeosang.

“What the fu--” 

“Where do you think you’re going, y/n.” Yeosang’s eyes were full of anger and hatred.

“Out.” you replied nonchalantly as you crossed your arms.

“What's his name?”

“What do you mean?” you asked innocently. 

“Who’s your date?!” he snapped. You smirked, you knew you had pissed him off.

“Why do you care?” you asked “I don’t need to tell you anything.”

Yeosang kept quiet, you could see the rage in his eyes. He roughly shoved you against the wall, you could feel your back hitting the hardness of the wall. You moaned in pain before you shot him an annoyed look.

“What the fuck Yeosang?!”

“You’re not going anywhere.” he said, his face was serious.

“You don’t fucking own me.” you said staring into his eyes. 

“You belong to me!” he yelled at your face as he pushed your back to the hard wall again, trapping you between his hands.

“Fuck you Kang Yeosang.” you said as you grabbed the collar of his school shirt and pulled him closer to you. “I can go anywhere and everywhere I want. With whoever I want.”

You both stared intensely at each other before he let out a growl and crashed his lips into yours. You gave in to the kiss. You could feel him smirk against your lips. You closed your eyes as he pulled your body close to his, your hands started to roam his body.

“You’re mine and you know it.” he spoked against your lips and slipped his tongue into your mouth. His hands sliding down your waist, his fingers playing with the hem of your shirt. “Missed me?”

You shrugged your shoulders with a smile. He let out a small chuckle before making his way to your neck, planting small kisses. He soon found your sweet spot and started to suck on it. A moan escaped from your lips.

Yeosang smirked again, he let go go you for a moment and went to the classroom door to lock it. You laughed as you grabbed his hand and pulled him back into a kiss. He smiled, kissing you back as he held onto your waist. 

Your fingers slowly made their way to his jacket, sliding it off him and leaving him in his shirt. You kissed his his jaw and moved your fingers played with his hair.

He moaned before pulling your hoodie off and letting it fall to the floor. You attacked his neck, sucking and kissing it earning a moan from him. You unbuttoned his shirt, revealing his slightly toned abs, your hands slid over them.  

Not wanting you to be in control, he pushed you up against the wall and slid his hand between your legs, playing with the hem of your underwear. His hand started to roam between your inner thighs. You instantly squeeze your legs together, trapping his hands between your thighs, inches from your throbbing heat. You both stared intensely at each other, he ran his thumb along your thighs, trying to get you to open up for him.

You bit your lip as you gave into him, spreading your legs open to let his hand free. You realised that you missed his touch, you miss his voice, you missed every single thing about him. It didn't matter that you were in class and that someone could catch you both, all you could think about was how much you wanted Yeosang. You felt yourself getting wet. He looked at you before running moving his fingers upwards.You let out a small moan as they landed on your underwear. A smirk appeared on Yeosang’s face.

“We need to be quiet.” he whispered your ear.

His hand began to move, his eyes were locked on yours, waiting for your response. His hand began to rub more fiercely, causing your breathing to get heavier. You tried your best to keep quiet but you didn't know if you could contains your moans any longer.

He moved away from the wall and grabbed your ass, lifting you up and carried you to a nearby desk. You grasped the edge of the desk to keep yourself steady. Yeosang moved your underwear aside and you felt his fingers coming in contact with your heat. The cool air hit you, making you more aroused.

“I’m going to fuck you on this table so hard that you won't be able to walk anymore.” he whispered in your ear.

He ran his fingers around your entrance, his thumb flicking your clit. He was teasing you. You felt a knot in forming in your stomach, your body was becoming numb. Yeosang slid two of his fingers inside of you, making you jump. 

“I’ve barely started yet you’re so wet for me already.” 

He thrusted his fingers deeper inside you. You bit down your bottom lip, trying to suppress your moans. You watched as pulled his fingers out and brought them up to his mouth, his lips wrapping around them, taking in your taste.

“I almost forgot how good you taste.” he said with a smirk on his face. 

He slipped your skirt and underwear off in one go and threw them across the room. You got up from the desk and pushed him against it. You planted kisses all over his torso as you made your way down, carefully stopping above the waistline of his pants.

“You know I hate being teased babe.” Yeosang groaned.

You smirked as you unbuttoned his pants and pulled them down his legs. You tossed it to the pile of clothes that was already on the floor. You looked down at his boxers, you could see his bulge. He let out a groan when you pulled his dick out of his boxers.

His dick was thick and throbbing in your hand. You licked his tip and Yeosang’s eyes instantly shut. You began to pump your hand around his shaft as you dragged your tongue around the tip of his dick. His pre-cum started to lick as you kept on pumping him.

“Oh god, y/n.” Yeosang groaned as you took his dick into your mouth, taking as much of him as you could.

“Fuck babe.” he moaned as you swirled your tongue around his shaft.

Your head starting to bob up and down.You could feel him starting to twitch against your cheeks. 

“Fu--fuck, st-- stop.” He demanded as he pulled your head up. In one swift motion, Yeosang switch places with you and lifted you up on to the desk.

“Yeosang.” you moaned out his name as he started sucking on your clit. Your hips bucking towards his mouth as you wrapped your legs around his neck, pushing him forward so that he could give you extra friction. Yeosang moaned against your clit, sending vibrations in your body. His tongue deep in you. You started to tremble when you felt your orgasm coming.

“Nuh uh uh.” He said as he pulled away from you, flipping you into a doggy style position, “You can only come when I’m in you.”

Yeosang parted your legs. He lined his dick to your entrance, teasing your clit with the head of his dick. 

“Please Yeosang, I need you right now.” you begged. 

Yeosang smirked as he pushed himself inside you. You moaned as you feel him starting to thrust into you. You forgot how big he was, you felt as if he was about to rip you into half. His balls slapping against your ass, his hands were on your breast as his brushed his thumb over your nipples. You arched your back, writhing under him.

“Omg Yeosang!” you moaned, not able to contain your nosies any longer. He loved the fact that he made you feel good. He trusted harder and faster into you, hitting your g-spot every time. You could feel your orgasm coming.

“Fu-- Fuck babe, you feel so-- so fucking--- good.” Yeosang said in between thrusts.

“I’m clo--close.” you moaned out, your walls tightened around his dick. He groaned at the feeling of it. 

“Yes babe, I want to feel you come all over my dick.” He says as he picked up his pace.

“Fu--Fuck!” you moaned out. Your orgasm hit you and your vision goes white. You could feel Yeosang’s thrust getting sloppier, he was close. You felt him twitch inside you. His eyes were clenched shut and his head was tossed back.

“Fuc--Fucking hell babe.” Yeosang groaned as he released himself in you. He thrusted into you a couple more times, riding his high before pulling out of you. He plopped down on a nearby chair, not even looking at you. Once you caught your breath, you picked up all your clothes and started to get dressed. 

“And where do you think you’re going?” he asked as he caught your arm and pulled you back to him.

“I have a date remember?” you said teasingly.

“Screw that guy.” he said as he kissed you passionately. “You belong to me and to me only.” you let out a small laugh. He cupped your chin and made you look at him.

“I’m sorry I went around flirting with other girls. I really love you, y/n. With all my heart. You are the first person to make me feel this way and I was honestly so scared at first, so I decided to become a dumbass and fuck around with other girls. Truth is, you are my weakness and I love you so so much. I know it’s going to be hard but can you give me a second chance? Can you please forgive me. I don’t know wha---”

Before he could continue rambling, you pulled him into another kiss.

“I forgive you Yeosang and I’m willing to give you a second chance.” you said, his eyes immediately lit up. “But...”

“But?” Yeosang asked with his head tilting.

“But if I see you running around and flirting with other girls, I will take things into my own hands and cut your balls off.” you said threatening him.

Yeosang let out a laugh before pulling you into a hug.

“I promise I won't babe.”

[bronanlynch]

weekly (monthly?) media roundup

ok so I do want to actually do these on some sort of schedule but unfortunately, as you already know, brains,

listening: Malice in Wonderland by Fangbanger, which I found from a tumblr post that described them as band for “if you have a complicated relationship with gender, had a falling out with god, hate the government, or just think that vampires are neat" and y’know? yeah. my notes on this song from several weeks ago are that I might not know any of these people’s genders but I do know they’ve listened to MCR

reading: the new Cassandra Clare book, Chain of Iron. it’s boring and homophobic. in the first book of this series, we find out that the heroine’s brother is gay and in a relationship with a man who has no intention of ever coming out publicly because 1) the book is set in 1903 in England, it was literally illegal and 2) he’s trying to have a career in politics. the heroine decides that this means he’s ashamed of her brother and doesn’t deserve him, and she is present and active in their breakup conversation.

above is the relationship chart I made from the first book, it really hasn’t changed much except now the main guy and the main girl are married, the lesbians got back together and then broke up again, the main girl’s gay brother hooked up with one of her husband’s friend, who’s a Good Gay and therefore worthy of love unlike the Bad Gay ex who is constantly mocked by just about every character for. checks notes. caring about appearances and manners given that his life and career are based on those things. the brother and his new love interest break up because the brother still thinks he’s a bad person for ever having dated his ex. also the main girl has now platonically run off to Paris with her husband’s platonic soulmate who is allegedly in love with her but it’s really unconvincing that he’s not actually in love with her husband (he’s not for very stupid lore reasons, the whole ‘parabatai are magically prevented from being romantically in love, except for these two straight people, when historically parabatai pairs were two men’ makes my fucking blood boil)

you might ask why I still read these books even though they make me angry and the answer is the 1) the aesthetic slaps 2) some of the characters are fun 3) the premise has enough potential that it could be good if it was good 4) sometimes I need to get cathartically angry abt bad fiction bc it just. does not matter

watching: so many things that I’m gonna just. run through them real quick

Word of Honor: gestures vaguely at how it’s slowly taking over my blog

Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty: love a found family, eh about the politics, can’t believe I predictably got a new fave character within the last two episodes of the show because one of the main characters is betrayed by his second-in-command and I think treason is the sexiest part of a relationship

SamBucky show: in the original draft of this post I said that it was so boring that week (episode 3) that I completely forgot about it until I saw the draft below this one talking about how bad and boring it is. at least more happened in later episodes and they’re finally giving me some tasty queerbaiting but the premise and the politics are. wow. it sure is military propaganda

My Hero Academia: new season is fun, love a tournament arc. don’t love that they tell us right away that the double agent character is a double agent, it was more fun in the manga when you’re not sure if he’s a traitor or not for a pretty long time

Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun: new season is cute, there sure is some gender happening. there’s a tsundere bisexual catgirl

Backflip!!: I usually avoid high school sports anime for backstory reasons but my roommate wanted to watch it with me and oh boy these gymnasts sure are gay for each other huh

Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood: my roommate pitched this to me as ‘cyberpunk but in the 1930s’ and there sure is dark lighting, lots of glowy neon stuff, and government oppression, which are the most important elements of cyberpunk apparently. not sure how I feel about it yet, because there’s a cool shapeshifting lady assassin with a revenge quest but there’s also a trans character who was revealed to be trans in a way that I personally did not enjoy. yes you can have transphobic villains but like. hmm. maybe the audience shouldn’t find out that someone is trans because the villain cuts his shirt away specifically to ~put him in his place. or maybe I personally am just sensitive to that but either way no thank you

on the other hand, the main character is sick as shit

The World Ends with You: god I love an anime about the power of friendship. I’ve only had these kids for two episodes and I would lay down my life for them

Nirvana in Fire: we’re only three episodes in and I did spend the first half of the first ep being like. oh god which of these people are actually important who am I supposed to care about here. and then by the end of the first ep I knew which ones I cared about and am now very afraid for their safety. do love the political intrigue though

playing: got through the first mission of Brigmore Witches. I love a good undercover mission, I wish I hadn’t been too afraid of like. alarms going off if I freed the other prisoners because I think Comrade Daud should do a jailbreak, and Lizzy Stride can call me anytime

also recently have played various ttrpgs including Firebrands, more Things, Eldritch and Terrifying, Link, and of course more Beam Saber (oh shit I meant to do my recap post for last session OOPS)

making: Zan and I made some real good chicken parm the other night, vaguely based on this recipe. by which I mean, we looked at the recipe to see how many eggs to use and how long to cook it and pretty much nothing else. the egg marinade step seemed unnecessary and I made the sauce the way I always make tomato sauce, which some day I should write down because it does in fact fuck. the secret is a shit-ton of oregano and basil and no chunks of tomato because fuck that. bad texture

Zan made the zucchini which also slapped, using some of the leftover bread crumbs

writing: I’ve posted a couple of things but most recently I wrote some rarepair femslash. this is the first fic for this ship on ao3 and the second ship in the f/f tag for this fandom that’s actually about the women in the show (as opposed to showing up in the f/f tag because it’s marked as “multi” or like. genderbent versions of the main m/m ship) but like. look at them. they’re terrible evil assassin women and they’re in love. anyway I’ve gotten over being embarrassed about having written a sex scene and moved on to wanting people to read my fic. there’s sparring as foreplay it’s a good time

[jawritter]

A Thousand Years...

Chapter 1

Heart beats fast. Colors and promises. How to be brave. How can I love when I’m afraid to fall. But watching you stand alone. All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow…..

Summary: A soulmate’s purpose is to shake you up, tear apart your ego a little bit, show your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so new light can get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you have to transform your life, then introduce you to your spiritual master. – Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

A new town, a new job, and a new life, one that you didn’t even expect……

Pairing: Reader x OFC Crystal, Reader x OFC Jessie Jensen Ackles x Reader.

Word Count: 1842

Warnings will include… Smut, language, unrequited/ requited love, cheating, and possibly more. This is gonna be a slow burn y’all!! This is brand new, so I will add to it as I know. Chapters will have warnings of their own if need be….

A/N: So my little cousin was watching breaking dawn in the living room, and I was folding clothes in the guest room… When the credits rolled and this song started, this fic hit me right in the face… I couldn’t escape it.. I don’t know yet how many chapters it will be! But If you want to be tagged let me know!! As always all mistakes are mine!! Feedback is gold!! Hope you guys enjoy this one!!

Fic Based on the Song A Thousand Years, by Christina Perri

Want more? Check out my Masterlist?

*****Masterlist*****

******Series Masterlist*****

Austin, Texas. A city that seemed to have a life force of its own. Full of art, culture, music, and people of all verities. There was very little that people didn’t love about this place once you visited it. It draws you in and keeps you there. Holding you like a giant magnet and never letting you go. Like it had its own invisible pull. 

Well, that’s what it did for you anyway. 

And what better place to start life over than right here in Austin, Texas. 

If there ever was a place in your mind you could start fresh, make something different of yourself, it was here; and if there was ever a place you could hide from you past it was here too. 

Pulling the last shirt out of your bag and folding it before placing it in your dresser, you take a deep breath and look around at your new apartment. It was small, only a studio apartment, but that’s all you could afford right now. Besides, it was a start. There was a waiting list to get into most of the places like this in Austin, and you were lucky enough to know the manager of this apartment complex. She was actually your sister-in-law.

Sure, it was cheating, but you always loved your brother and his wife; and when your life fell apart back home they were the ones that suggested you move here. 

Shoving the memories down of a failed engagement, and a promise of love that was obviously a lie, you make your way from your bedroom to your kitchen. You put on a small pot of coffee and sitting down with your laptop at the bar, letting out a sigh as you looked around your small space.

There was no point in dwelling on the past, only the future mattered now, or at least that what you kept telling yourself. 

You had been avoiding every type of social media and most relatives since Justin left you standing at the altar. You just didn’t want to talk about it anymore. It was humiliating enough to be the bride that apparently no one really wanted, and reliving it over and over again every time someone wanted to discuss it wasn’t something you wanted to do. That was one of the main reasons why you left your home town when you were invited to live out here. 

Crystal and your brother Jessie were the only people you knew in Austin. There were no high school classmates you had a danger of running into at the local supermarket, there were no “almost in-laws” living up the street from you. There were no ex fiances that you could run into at random moments in this town. No one knew you, no one knew your past, and no one would ever know if you had your way about it. 

You left all that behind when you got in your car and drove to Austin, not looking back, and burying that part of you deep, deep down; never to be dug up by anyone else again. 

You were just about to log onto the resume builder to start working on your resume when you heard a pounding on the door. That could only be one of two people, so you didn’t bother getting up to answer the door.

“It’s open!” you yell in the direction of the front door, not even bothering to look up when the door opened and Crystal flounced into the apartment, dropping her purse down on the bar next to you before flopping down on the vacant bar stool. 

“So, you get yourself settled okay?” she asked, looking around your apartment like she’d never seen one before even though she works for the apartment complex and looks at the same damn floor plan every day.

“Yup,” you mumble, popping the P at the end. Not bothering to look up from your computer as you did.

You were a little aggravated that your brother and his wife and insisted on paying your rent up three months ahead for you, giving you a “jump-start” while you look for a job around here that could support you.

“You are still annoyed with me for paying the rent up aren’t you?” She ask, a smirk on her tinted lips. She was always one to apply the makeup heavy, and when she was at work she laid it on pretty thick.

“Yup,” you said again, hopeful she’d just drop the subject so that you could concentrate. 

You’d been working for a local bar while you were still in your hometown, and so far that’s the only “job” experience you had. So you were basically just staring at your resume, with your past employer's information on it, and nothing else… 

Maybe this was going to be a little harder than you thought it was going to be. 

Crystal looked over your shoulder at your laptop screen, reading over your last employment information. 

“So...got any idea what you want to do now that you’re here in Austin?” she asks you, stating the question like you might bight her head off if she caught you in the wrong mood. 

Maybe you had been a little touchy lately, but you’d been through a lot, and your trust in people was pretty much nonexistent at this point. 

The one person you let yourself trust, the one person you thought you were going to spend the rest of your life with, had let you down in one of the most humiliating ways possible, and it was going to take a lot to get past that. Even though you didn’t even want to admit it to yourself, you were pretty hung up on what happened to you. It wasn’t even “hurt” at this point, you were angry with Justin, and with most of the male population in general.

“Not a damn clue,” you admitted, running your hand through your hair and getting up to fix your cup of coffee, walking away from the most pathetic work experience list that you’d ever seen in your life on a resume for a moment before you started to cry again. 

So much for a fresh start.

You were going to starve to death before you could find a damn job with a list of work experiences like the one you had, or at least that’s what the little sarcastic voice in your head retorted to you before laughing maliciously. 

“Look there are a lot of bars and things around here in Austin. My suggestion is go with what you know. It may not be exactly the change you were looking for, but it will keep you in food and clothes while you look for something different that will let you start out on a training level.” 

You pass her a cut of coffee across the small island bar in the middle of your kitchen before setting back down with a defeated huff, staring at your computer like if you stared at it long enough, you could will it to change it to suit you better.

Sighing defeatedly you exit out of the resume builder and start googling local bars you could walk around downtown to and see if they need a bartender. Thankfully you had just renewed your liquor license before you moved here, so at least you had that working for you. 

“It’s not all bad you know, you get to meet all kinds of people in Austin working at a bar. Musicians, artists, hell we even got a few famous actors that live around here! You never know, mister right might walk right into one of those places and sweep you right off your feet,” she said, giving you an elbow to the ribs. You grimaced at her from the top of your coffee cup.

“I’m not looking for Mr. Right or Mr. Anyone for that matter. I’ve had enough of dating, relationships, and men right now to last me a lifetime,” you retort a little more sadistically than you probably actually intended. 

“Oh come on, Y/N! There’s nothing wrong with having someone to have a little fun with. You’re a young, attractive woman. Don’t count off all men just because of one asshole. You will be surprised by the men out there that would give their left arm to have a chance with you. You sell yourself too short,” she chided, watching your reaction closely. 

Shrugging, your roll your eyes dramatically as your brother burst through the door, not even bothering to knock.

“What’s up, ladies?” Jessie said, sitting down a few boxes of pizza on the bar in front of you.

“Dinner is served! I thought I’d be nice and pick up dinner for you girls tonight since Chris has to work late and you’re just getting settled,” he said, leaning against the bar, looking over your computer at your computer before you slammed it closed. 

“My hero,” you said with a sneer. 

Crystal snickered at you before opening the pizza box and grabbing a slice. “Dear God. Pizza and coffee for supper. I feel like I’m in college all over again.” 

“Fuck, at this point I wish I’d have gone to college. I’m never going to find a job here that’s not slinging drinks for a bunch of drunk men at all hours of the night,” you grumble, grabbing a slice of your own.

“So that’s up with the list of local watering holes you had pulled up there? Here I was thinking you just wanted to get tossed,” he said sarcastically. 

“No jackass, it’s just the only job I’m qualified for,” you growl, shooting him the finger and causing a coughing fit from Crystal who was laughing hysterically next to you.

“Well, you know if you are not interested in the whole bar scene anymore there’s a fairly new brewery that has opened up in Dripping Springs, Texas. One of our local celebrities and his family opened it up. They might be looking for someone. It is out in the country, it closes fairly early, usually it’s shut down by like 11 at night. It’s a bar, but it’s not a bar. Hell, you might even like it. Live music, trivia nights, I think it’d be a good thing for you,” he said, walking around you grabbing a glass and feeling it with water before returning back to the opposite side of the bar.

Rubbing your face with your free hand and taking a deep breath you tried to decide what to do. It didn’t sound that bad, but could things actually work out like you were supposed to? Could things actually go that right, or would it be just something that you got your hopes up for again and got let down?

Jessie could see your internal battle, reaching across the bar he grabbed your shoulder and made you look at him. 

“I’ll tell you what, both Chris and I have tomorrow off, let’s drive out there and see if they’re looking for anyone to hire. Either way, it might be fun. You deserve to have a little fun after everything that you’ve been through. Let’s just go have a good family day.”

“Okay, okay fine!” you said, leaning back and crossing your arms over your chest. “We’ll go check it out.”

Deep down inside there was a twinge of nerves you hadn’t felt in a very long time, and you didn’t know what to make of it, but you knew that if this worked out it could be the change you were looking for. 

Could you really be that lucky?

———————————————————————————————-

Tag List:

@deanwanddamons​​ @imabitch4jensen​​ @rvgrsbrns​​ @bi-danvers0​​ @onethirstyunicorn​​ @i-love-superhero​​ @onethirstyunicorn​ @akshi8278​

Series Tag List:

@prettydeaneyes​

@supersassyprobablysad​

@fangirlxwritesx67​

@ricanqueen20​ 

@xhannahbananax03​

[rosemary-morgan]

John Marston X F.Reader: The sky in her eyes - Part 1

Hello lovely ones (✿◕‿◕✿)

This is a new story about John Marston. @fangirl-ramblings​ and @gangofgunslingers​ requested this story a long time ago - shame on me! I've kept you waiting so long. I am so sorry! 😫 

So, here it comes and I hope, you will like the first part 💐😊

Main Theme for this story (link)

PART 2 / PART 3

(¯`v´¯)                                                      (¯`v´¯) `*.¸.*´                                                        `*.¸.*´ ¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨) (`’·.¸(`’·.¸  ¸.·’´) ¸.·’´)  (¨*•.¸ (¨*•.¸`•.¸ (¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•               •`¯¨• ¸¸ `•. `•.¸) `•.¸) `*.¸.*´                                                       `*.¸.*´

The sky in her eyes - Part 1

Lemoyne - 1899

You looked out of the window, lost in thought, watching the landscape next to you slowly falling behind. Your grief for the loss of your parents was very great, not even knowing if you would ever get over it. You loved them both more than anything else, experienced ups and downs with them. They gave you the best years. But now you would never see them again. It's been three days since they have died in a terrible accident on your own ranch. A great fire had destroyed everything. It had happened in the middle of the night, completely unexpected. You were lucky to have survived. But you had nothing left. No money, no clothes, no home... nothing. That was the reason for your move to Saint-Denis. Your aunt and uncle lived there and decided to take you into their family. You were very grateful to them, yet they could never fill the emptiness that was created within you. You didn't know much about these two, which made you a little nervous. Would they treat you well? Would you get along well with them? All of these questions flowed through your head, plus the question: Why? Why had fate struck? Why were your parents taken away from you? Your home, your animals? Why on earth?! You would never understand that, and the more you thought about it, the deeper the pain, but also the anger within you. You were an orphan at the age of 17, and it was damn hard for a young girl to accept this.

As you looked out of the window with these endless thoughts, your fingers touched the necklace you wore around your neck. The jewelry had a pendant: It was your mother's wedding ring. Your parents' wedding date was engraved there. It was the only thing left of your parents. Silent tears ran down your rosy cheeks when you thought about how much you missed them both, and that you would rather be with them, so this infinite pain would no longer exist inside of you. I'd rather be with you now. What should I do without you? I'm lost without you... Nobody could replace the love of a father and a mother. Especially not strangers who called themselves families. Your aunt and uncle had never shown interest in you. Why now? The thought made you shake your head. But what choice did you have? Saint-Denis was the only way for you not to starve. You didn't want to end up as a prostitute in a saloon and give yourself to stranger men for a few bucks.

Suddenly, the train slowed down. You were nearby Scarlett Meadows, but the train stopped in the middle of the tracks. No station in sight. Like all the other passengers on this train, you were very confused. It was already getting dark, so it was difficult to see what was going on outside. You heard voices, then roars and suddenly several shots. The passengers screamed in alarm, just like you did. What the hell was going on?! What was happening out there? You were so scared, looking into the other faces of people who were also afraid. Then, you heard voices again - loud, rude and threatening. When you heard the men threaten people to give them their money and jewelry, you realized that this was a robbery, and you were right in the middle of it. "Oh my god!" What else did you have to endure? How could you be so cursed?! This was a nightmare. You had nothing to hand over to these men. Gosh, what if they would kill you because of that? Countless thoughts went through your head, your fear grew.

You heard the steps of these men moved in a hurry until they finally arrived at the section where you were sitting. God, your heart was beating madly. Your body started to shake with fear, your fingers clenched into your long skirt, hoping you would survive this robbery. Your eyes filled with tears, and you had to advise yourself to stay calm. "Everybody stay calm, and nobody´ll get shot!" They were tall, one of them even very strong. Broad shoulders, deep voice. You swallowed nervously, looking at everything with fearful eyes. One of the passengers made the mistake of rising from his seat to protest - he was immediately hit in the face, causing him to drop back into his seat unconscious. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Startled, you put your hands on your mouth, tried to stay calm. These men were damned serious. One of them lifted an old, dirty bag towards the passengers. He had shoulder-length black hair, his clothes were torn in some places, especially his pants. And you had never heard a raspy voice like his. "Let's go! Everything you got! Money! Valuables!" So while he was robbing people, the other man, made sure that nobody was out of line. With his bright eyes, he looked at everyone in this room - including you, which made you shudder. They both wore a cloth on their faces to hide their identity. The sack filled, the passengers were stripped of everything they had, and as these thieves approached, you became increasingly nervous. You were aware that these men were not afraid of violence, which you had already seen with your own eyes. "Give me everything you have! Come on, lady!" The stranger asked you with his raspy voice to give him your valuables. You swallowed, tried not to look him in the eye so as not to provoke him. You rummage in your handbag for the last few dollars you had left and thrown them into the old bag. "I have nothing more, Sir!" But the stranger had already noticed the gold ring on your neck, which of course he wanted. "Your necklace! Give it to me!" With your eyes wide open, you now stared straight at the thief's face, whereby you could only see his eyes. You instinctively reach for the ring, hold it tight. "No!" You would never part with this piece of jewelry! It was the only thing you had left of your mother. You wouldn't have the heart to leave it up to these men. "I said, give it to me! NOW!" He screamed at you so that you startled, but you only shook your head, biting your lower lip hard. You looked the young man deeply in the eyes, and suddenly it became very quiet between the two of you. Your eyes shimmered through your tears, but the young man didn't seem to care. "Arthur! Come here!" The other man approached you, his bright eyes resting on you before looking at his friend. "Any problems here?" "This lady seems to think we're playing games!" Okay, now you were really scared. You had seen what happened to the passengers who refused to give their valuables to them. These men will surely not be nice to a young girl. "I'm going to count to three... one... two..." You just couldn't let go of your ring, as if something bound you. You heard the black-haired man next to you sigh heavily when he saw that you still didn't obey. "Come on girl! I'm losing my goddamn patience!", growled the man who called himself Arthur. "You want my friend here to lose his patience?!" "Just take it from her, Marston! We don't have time for such games!" You couldn't look that fast, so the stranger grabbed your necklace and tore it from your neck. Startled, you let out a little scream, but the men were already gone, with the last things you had...

Eight years later... 1907, Saint-Denis

"Darling, do you want more of the potatoes?" You and your ´family´ are having dinner, and the atmosphere was very depressing. As usual. Since you moved into this house eight years ago, you have been pretty limited in your freedoms. Here was the top rule for you, to obey, and to behave like a lady. What was that supposed to mean acting like a lady? Like always sitting still, and never expressing his opinions? In Saint-Denis, the opinion of a woman didn't count. "Y/N, you will meet with Mister Main tomorrow. He will wait for you in the Imperialis restaurant." When you heard this name, you choked on the piece of meat you are chewing on. Charles Main? That boring guy?! No! Never! He wasn't your type at all, especially since he was over fifteen years older than you and had almost no hair on his head. Oh no! You wouldn’t spend another afternoon with this man. Your uncle wanted you to get married as soon as possible. He didn't care which man it would finally be. He was only interested in finally being able to throw you out of his home. You sighed annoyed, tried to stay calm, and swallowed the piece of meat before answering your uncle. "No." You felt your aunt's shocked expression because you dared to contradict your uncle. But you didn't care whether your uncle gave you evil looks, or if he would yell at you like he always did. You'd rather grab your glass of water and take a sip. "What do you mean with no?!" "Like I said: No!" This time you looked at your uncle, placing your glass back on the table. "I don't like him! And his political opinions are hideous!" Charles Main was a man with very outdated views. He didn't believe in women's rights or equality for all people. And you would never get along with that. "You don't know what you're talking about, my child!" "I'm not your child!" Your aunt tried to avoid an argument between you and her husband to stop him from becoming violent again. But you didn't care! He will never break your will! Your parents taught you to stand up for what you believed in. "Sit down!", your uncle shouted when you rose from your chair. "I lost my appetite!" And without saying another word, you stormed out of the dining room. Oh, how much you cursed the day you moved in here! For years, your uncle and aunt have tried to change you, manipulate you! Enough! You wouldn´t stay here any longer! This life was like living in a cage! When you arrived in your room, you grabbed one of your favorite books and went to bed. You just wanted to forget your grief and anger by getting lost in one of these creative novels. But the grief that suddenly gripped you was unbearable, and you burst into tears. You still missed your parents so terribly after all these years. This deep wound in your soul was far from cured...

At the same time in Beecher’s Hope...

The beautiful eyes of the young man looked at the golden piece of jewelry in his hand. He would never forget that girl's eyes, which had looked at him with fear...

John sighed. That was eight years ago, but since then, John hadn't been involved in any more robberies. Never again in his life did he want to see this fear in the eyes of a young woman. John had wondered over the years what had happened to you - to the saddest-eyed girl he'd ever met. Back then, you had begged him, told him you had nothing to give him. But John didn't care, and he had just ripped the chain off your neck. He sighed again as he closed his eyes. What an asshole he was. But back then, he and the gang had to survive somehow. John wanted to give your back the chain with the ring pendant, but who knew where you lived now? It was naive to think he could find you. You could be anywhere, and many years have passed. John hoped he hadn't taken more from you than just the ring.

His life had changed a lot in the past few years. He tried to live a normal life as best he could. Living an honest life and making money legally. In the beginning, the times were very difficult for him. It had been hard to find a job, and it reminded him of the time when he was on his own. Before his time as a member of the Van der Linde gang. He had traveled a lot, had often changed his identity and, ultimately, he moved back to West Elisabeth. After all these years, John had understood that he belongs to this place. Of course, West Elizabeth, was where the gang started to break apart. But it was Micah Bell who had distributed his poison, and his venom had rotted everything they had fought for years. He misses his friends. Arthur, Charles, Sadie Adler... even Uncle. But also Tilly and Mary Beth. What had happened to Karen? Before the gang broke apart, she had consumed a lot of alcohol, and at some point, she just disappeared.

John had to sigh hard as he thought back in time. The last days of the gang had been very difficult. And John still had nightmares. After all these years. But this place, Beachers Hope, gave him peace. Working as a farmer made him feel like he was doing something good. He sells goods, such as milk and eggs. But it became difficult for John to run this farm alone. He could use some help at his ranch.

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It was early in the morning when you dared to leave this house. You wanted to be free, you didn't want your life to be determined, to live in a house, where everything was prescribed for you. You were a young woman of 25 years, with wishes and own opinions! Your parents would never have wanted your uncle to try to manipulate you in this way. And if your father would know that this man also hit you, he would probably have shot him with a gun. You were always the little girl for your father. You giggled softly at that thought. You remembered how your father said that he would always protect you. You packed your last things in your suitcase, and you left the room as silently as possible. It was quiet throughout the house. The only thing you could hear was the quiet ticking of the clocks. You moved carefully through the rooms, taking care not to cause any noise. But even if you were caught, you wouldn't be deterred from leaving this house. Quietly, you opened the front door of the house, and when you took the first step outside, you suddenly felt so free. With a smile on your lips, you descend the stairs, and the sun greets you with its warm rays. It was time to start a new life, and you would build your own little ranch one day. It would be a long way to get there, but it was a start. You had a few items of value with you that you would sell to somehow survive for at least the next week. Until then you would find a job - at least you hoped so. "A ticket to Valentine, please!" Valentine was a small town, but it had a few things to offer. A general store, a doctor, a hotel. That wouldn´t be a bad start. Maybe you could clean the doctor's office? But you wouldn't earn a lot of money with this work alone. A second job wouldn´t be the stupidest idea. After you paid and took the train ticket, you asked the friendly gentleman when the next train would come. "Uhm... In... ten minutes, Miss!" "Thank you very much!" That happened faster than expected, which, of course, made you very happy. You had no idea what to expect or how your life would change in the coming days and weeks.

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"Alright, Mister Milton! Here you have $ 15. Thank you, son!" John looked at the older man in confusion as he saw the extra money. "That's more than I asked for, Mister." The older man patted John on the shoulder, as he handed the money to him with a smile. "I´m an old man, my son. I´m very glad that you bring me these fresh goods every week. At my age, I can't make the long trip to your ranch." Of course, John was happy about the extra money the friendly old man had given him, after all, he could use it. With the money John earned, he had to repay the loan for the plot of land on Beecher’s Hope. "Thank you, Sir. Thank you very much!" The long road to Strawberry was definitely worth it. But the day had just started and John still had a lot of work to do...

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"I'm sorry, Miss. I wish I could offer you a job." Finding a job in Valentine, was more difficult than expected. Unfortunately, you were out of luck at the doctor's office. Doctor Baker had already hired someone to keep his place clean. "Thank you for your time. I'll try my luck elsewhere." You said goodbye to the gentleman with the most friendly smile you have ever seen. You left the office discouraged, wondering where to ask next. Maybe in the general store? There would surely be work for you! You rushed to the shop, hoping to find a job here. When you entered the store, you looked around. It was small but had a lot of things to offer. "Good day, Miss! What can I do for you?" "Good day, Sir. Well, actually, I came here to ask you for a job." The man behind the counter just looked at you, and you wondered why this guy was staring at you like this. Had he never met a young woman before who asked for work? "Uhm...? Mister? Are you okay?" At last, he seemed to wake up from his rigidity. It was very strange behavior, and something told you that you should better leave the shop, and look for another job. "Of course, Miss! Well, I don't have much to do in this store, but I´m sure I will find some work for you!" The man left his place behind the counter, to pull some things out of a corner. You watched the man questioningly as he pulled out a box and rummaged in it. You waited, maybe working here wouldn't be a bad idea? However, your opinion would change quickly. Because, when the shopkeeper pulled some corsets and stockings out of the box and approached you with them, it all became very bizarre. "You would be the perfect model for this clothing!" He held them out to you, looking at the lingerie with big eyes, and you could swear that he was drooling. This pervert was just imagining how you would look in these corsets and stockings. "Just perfect!" "Oh! You mean I should force myself into this underwear for your enjoyment?! Disgusting!" You wanted to punch this guy right in his face for his repugnant behavior, but you decide to leave this shop as soon as possible. What was left for you now? What came to your mind next was the Saloon. Your gaze wandered to the building, from which loud laughter and roars could be heard. A heavy sigh left your lips. "Oooff..." You knew that it wouldn´t be an easy job. How could you tame this horde of men? Yet, you had no choice but to work as a waitress. You gathered all your courage and went to the saloon. When you entered this, you could see some of the men fighting for fun. Glasses flew to the floor, beer and whiskey spilled in every corner. "Oh god..." But what did you expect? That was the Wild West! You would only do your job, and try to get used to this atmosphere. You were aware that many of the men would surely touch and bother you, but you shouldn´t think about that, otherwise, you will lose your courage. No one had said it would be easy. "Excuse me, Sir!" You approached the bartender who was just about to dry the glasses that he had just washed. "Hey! Another bottle of whiskey!! NOW!" A man called very loudly next to you, so you had to cover your ear. You watched the bartender grabbing the bottle of alcohol in a few seconds, open it, and hand it over to the guest. Then he turned to you. "Yes, Miss? What can I offer you?" "Nothing. I wanted to ask you if you have work for me?" "Work? What kind of work?", asked the man as he continued to polish the glass. "As a waitress, Sir!" The man nodded, putting the glass down. Then he looked at you with a sullen look, raising his eyebrow. "Are you sure you want that?" You nodded, looking the man straight in the eyes. "I am sure!" The Barkeeper sighed softly, as he took his eyes off you, and grabbed another glass. "Missy, this isn´t a good place for you!" "Excuse me?!" You looked blankly at the man. Why did he say that? He didn't know you at all! And you wouldn't give up now. "Do you have any idea, what people will do to you? They'll eat you alive if you're not fast enough!" "Give me a chance to prove to you, that I can do it!" And you wouldn't leave this saloon until you get a job.

The man seemed to see how important this was to you, and finally, he decided to give you a chance to prove yourself. He grabbed two bottles of whiskey and placed them on the bar. "Table two! Hurry up and bring these whiskeys to the two men!" You smiled, reached for the bottles and thanked the man. You would prove to him that you weren't just a tender flower.

[classic80sand90smovieloves2]

Meeting and dating Greg Tolan

(Can I just say this asshole is just so gorgeous)(Requested by anonymous)

- You met Greg at school, the blonde bully was in a few of your classes so you got to see him nearly everyday. Even though you knew of him you had never actually spoken to him, that is until you managed to hurt your leg.

- Because of your injury you needed someone to walk you to your next class and carry your things for you but when you needed to leave, no one volunteered. You were already embarrassed by the situation and your severe lack of friends in said class/school so you were more than a little mortified when your teacher refused to let you go alone. You were even more mortified when your teacher; well aware of Tolan’s love of lifting things, immediately asked the smartass to accompany you.

- Greg tried to refuse and you quickly assured the teacher you could handle carrying your things. But they didn’t relent and soon enough they were shoving your books into the now annoyed and standing jocks hands while you stood in the front of the room wanting to melt into the floor.

- He doesn’t speak to you much at first, in fact he hardly said one word to you the first few days he walked you but on the third day he snarked that you could at least “entertain” him if he was going to be your designated brawn. You looked at him like a deer in the headlights and he just looked down at you, snorted a little and asked about your leg.

- He listened to your story of how it happened and chimed in with how he had done that a few years back, giving you tips on what to do with yourself to heal faster. Over time he starts to talk to you more and more and begins to enjoy the few minutes he spends with you everyday; he even begins to find excuses to speak with you more and more.

- By the time your legs healed up he’s managed to charm you but then you see the way he treats people and start to lose interest in him. You end up sort of avoiding him so that you don’t catch any more feelings than you already have but he doesn’t want to let your “friendship” go that easy.

- It’s also hard to avoid him when he knows your class schedule from having to walk you around. It’s not uncommon to walk out of class and see him standing right outside the door, waiting for you.

- You aren’t really sure what to do when he starts coming around you more and starting conversations with you. Like he’ll suddenly sit at your lunch table surrounded by his friends and ask how “the legs been” while starting to eat his lunch all the while acting like this is a normal occurrence.

- It’s only a matter of time before him and his girlfriend break up especially after she notices him hanging around you more and more. So with him being single its only a matter of time before he tries to make you his, it all depends on when he finally realizes hes in love with you or when hes willing to date someone on the lower end of the social hierarchy. (Remember: he’s an asshole.)

- He starts to get jealous of those around you even before the two of you start dating especially when he notices that you're trying to avoid him and believe me, he gets mean when he’s jealous. He would definitely glare daggers at any guy who dared speak to you; it could be someone with a crush, it could be your lab partner; it doesn’t matter, if it isn’t him he doesn’t like it.

“Hey, how ya doing? I couldn’t help but notice you were talking with that lovely lady over there and I just wanted to say that-Oh! I’m sorry, spaghetti too. I think that stains.”

- He’ll definitely turn on the charm and try to blind you with his boyish good looks once he starts to understand his feelings for you. You can almost forget what a massive jerk he is to everyone else when he’s smiling that oh so pretty smile at you.

- He asked you out after school one day after getting jealous watching you laugh with some guy in the parking lot. He made his way over to you, greeting you as he shot the guy a “friendly” but obviously threatening look.

“Oh hi Greg, this is Paul.” You say as you drop your things into the backseat of your car.

“Hello Paul.”

“Yeah uh, I’ll see you later y/n.”

“Oh, bye...Paul...” You murmur, watching as he walks away.

- He doesn’t let your mind linger on the boy for another moment before he’s asking what you’re doing that night and asking if you’d like to go out with him. Even though you feel like you should know better then to agree, you hesitantly do so unable to deny that you like the guy.

- That night he picks you up at your house and takes you to an ice cream parlor where he ups his game and makes you fall head over heels for him. It’s practically a perfect date, he makes you laugh, makes you smile, compliments you, and acts like a complete gentleman. Even if you weren’t as into him as you were you couldn’t help but be caught up in the moment and agree to be his girlfriend.

- When you’re saying goodbye you shyly kiss him on the cheek and thank him for such a nice night. Once he gets home he lays in bed smiling to himself as he thinks about the time you spent together and the feel of your lips soft against his skin.

- Your first kiss is the next day, he sits down with you at lunch having left his friends at their usual table. About midway through the period he suddenly asks if he can kiss you and you’re sort of shocked that he even asked but you smile and agree. He beams in response and leans in, taking your breath away as he connects your lips.

- After you kiss in plain sight the whole school finds out through gossip and in a matter of a few periods it becomes common knowledge that you’re now off limits. Greg couldn’t be happier that you’re officially “his” and that he won’t have to see any more losers trying to flirt with you.

- He loves cheek kisses, giving or receiving it doesn’t matter. Its one of his favorite shows of affection.

- He’ll carry your books in one hand and lace your fingers together with the other.

- He really wants you to be proud of/impressed by him but he doesn’t know exactly what to do to make you feel that way about him. Muscles=girlfriends smile but messing with losers= girlfriend upset?? He doesn’t understand why you wouldn’t find him bullying people amusing like his friends do.

- If he knows it bothers you he’ll try not to be such an ass especially if you ask him to. Of course he’s not going to change overnight but he will make an effort to not do it as much or at least not when you’re around.

- If you were to smile and bat your eyelashes at him you’d have him at your beck and call. Just the slightest bit of flirtation and sort of promise of something even slightly sexual will make him more than compliant. Like if you were to wrap your arms around him and kiss his jaw while asking him to leave the freshman’s alone for the rest of the year 9/10 he would do it.

- Don’t have a lunch? He’ll take someone else’s for you!

- When you do bring a lunch he steals food off of your plate. He’s a growing boy, he can’t help it.

- Appreciates when you let him talk about weightlifting. Most girls just dont pay attention or cut him off to talk about something else unless they’re really young and completely in love with him.

- He kind of likes when you stand up to him, at least when it’s not in front of other people. Before you, people would kind of write off his actions as “boys being boys” but you aren’t afraid to put him in his place and it’s kind of fun to him.

- Be prepared to be randomly lifted in the air because he likes to show his strength and picking you up is the perfect way for him to do so.

- Although it’s probably annoying for you he does love to hear you shriek in surprise when he manages to sneak up and grab you.

- Definitely used you to workout at some point, mostly to make you giggle/cheer you up. Like benchpressing you or doing push ups with you on his back.

- He likes to tell you about all the fun things that happened throughout the day. They’re usually not too interesting but you feign interest and listen anyway because it makes him happy.

- He likes giving you nicknames. He likes the idea of having a special little thing just between the two of you.

- If you walk he’s going to follow, he wants to make sure no one approaches you or that you aren’t angry with him.

- Obviously he’s a very jealous and protective boyfriend as I’ve said before. There’s a few different kinds of jealousy when it comes to Greg. There’s the usual of him wanting to beat someone up or him acting like an asshole, even to you.

“Let’s go. Now y/n!”

“What was that a pity stop?”

- But there’s also the version of him who will scoff and “brush off” any of your compliments for another guy.

“That’s because he’s a fruitcake.”

- You know that deep down he’s actually insecure and that’s the main reason why he hates you showing interest in anyone else and likes to put down others.

- A lot of people think he’s all brawn and no brains so he really likes it when you go to him for advice or ask for his input.

- Shoulder rubs, either way you're getting something out of it. On one hand you get to touch your muscly boyfriend, on the other your strong boyfriend has equally strong hands which feel really good on your body after a long day. 

- You end up making up excuses for him one way or another. Sometimes you try to assure people that he isn't as bad as he seems even though you aren’t too sure of it yourself from time to time. 

“Greg just likes to act tough he doesn’t actually hate you.” you say, patting Greg on the shoulder who gives you a sarcastic smile and continues to glare at the person in front of you. 

- The both of you toss sarcastic comments at each other for the hell of it. You’re never actually being mean just being little shits to each other and usually trying to make the other break character and smile first.

- Almost gets upset when you don’t want to sit with him and his jerk off friends at lunch. Then he realizes thats probably for the better since he likes to have his time to walk around and spill some lunches. 

- Having to calm him down when he gets riled up, it’s not an easy feat especially if its someone else pissing him off.

“Come on Greg, It was a joke, people laughed, its fine.”

- Sometimes he just doesn't get that not all problems have to be solved with his fists.  

- Sometimes he uses his sarcastic lines on you and makes them seem romantic as though he hadn't previously used them to torment kids. Or is it that he uses his corny romantic lines to torment kids?

“I felt bad about neglecting you yesterday and I just wanted to let you know you're still my favorite.”

- You're going to end up fighting with him, there’s no way to avoid it. It’s an important step in your relationship, it’ll prove to him how much he really cares about and needs you which results in him trying to better himself. 

- He’ll make a few comments and snide remarks but for the most part it’s pretty much mostly you talking when you fight and it’ll be you storming off afterwards. If you dump him or ignore him after a fight, he’s going to turn his hurt into anger and take it out on something–usually another guy that he sees you talking to. He has a real rough time seeing you with someone else since he fully believes no one can be better than you.

- He knows he’s not the easiest boyfriend to have and that’s part of the reason it hurts him so much to see you with someone else. Because you can probably get another boyfriend no problem, but him? No one can manage to calm him down like you can nor do they ever stick around/deal with him for very long. Even if he has a new girl he’s still hung up on you. It makes him miserable when you aren’t speaking with him and he ends up dumping the other girl pretty quickly when he realizes they don’t make him feel any better. He really just can’t believe you’re staying mad at him and won’t give him another chance.

- After a while you can’t deny that you miss him and his eyes burning holes into the back of your head every time you ignore him sure doesn't make you feel too pleased with yourself. So you go over to his house one day to try and talk things through but the instant he answers the door to you he just pulls you into a tight hug and apologizes for being a jerk. After that you just can’t stay mad at him and any hard feelings you had had just fizzle out. 

- He always makes it up to you when he acts like a jerk whether it be with a gift or a heartfelt apology when you weren’t expecting it.

- Helping him put on his necklace whenever he cant seem to get the clasp. 

- He thinks it’s cute when you try on his gloves.

- Obviously the boy is sculpted like a demigod and he’s more than aware of the fact so you try not to say anything (not wanting to inflate his ego anymore) but sometimes you cant help but ogle him and let me say does he love when he catches you doing it. He’ll act like a little shit and ask if you’d like to “touch them” while flexing his biceps; all but giggling as you scoff and roll your eyes at him. 

- His friends are surprisingly nice but its when they get together that problems usually start. They’re just prone to acting like dumbass douchebags when they hang around each other, for their reputations if nothing else. 

- He knows he’ll win prom king and he doesn't care what he has to do, hes going to make you his prom queen. 

- He’s a cuddler; it doesn’t matter how you want to do it, he just wants to do it. Big spoon, little spoon, facing each other, you on top of him; he loves it all.

- Sit. On. His. Lap. He’ll smile like a kid on Christmas.

- Hugs from behind, sometimes he likes to use them to show how much bigger he is than you. He has a size kink.

- Guaranteed PDA, he loves showing you off and having his hands on you.

- I feel like kids would love him so he’s the perfect boyfriend if you have little siblings. Most kids love being picked up and thrown around and he’s the perfect person for them to ask. You’ll have to fight to spend alone time with him when you’re at your house.

- If you’ve ever had trouble getting through people while trying to get to class you can rest assured that that’s never going to happen again. The halls are going to part like the Red Sea whenever you’re walking in them mostly because you’re being flanked by at least him and one of his friends.

- You’re basically like high school royalty but even better because you don’t let it all get to your head. You become pretty popular with your classmates for getting Greg to leave kids alone.

- Ever had trouble with group projects in class? Well now you don’t have to worry because he’ll intimidate anyone giving you a hard time in any way shape or form!

- He likes to take you out on dates, he likes to spend time with you and see you smile because of something he planned or did.

- Even though he’s an asshole with other people (and occasionally you when he gets particularly jealous) he’s usually very sweet and romantic. You wouldn’t be able to put up with him if he wasn’t.

- When you’re alone with him he’s basically a big lovebug, cuddling, hand holding, hugs, kisses, compliments, etc.

- If he’s ever out sick he’ll send flowers to your house for you to find after you come home from school. He’d give you the flowers himself for any other occasion like an anniversary or your birthday.

- Your parents love him since they don’t know how he is at school and he acts like the all American good boy when he’s around them.

- He’s a big fan of making out or any kind of kissing just as long as your lips are on his he’s happy.

- Picnics and beach dates, anywhere out in the sun is a fun time for him.

- He’ll probably get a sports scholarship and go off to a nice college so you might have to do long distance for a while but he’s intent on staying with you so you don’t have to worry about him being unfaithful. He’s ready to propose to you senior year so I’m pretty sure you won’t have to wait very long for him to pop the question.

[msjr0119]

The Greatest Show

A Million Dreams Reprise/ Come Alive

A new series- all chapters are based on each song from ‘The Greatest Showman’

Characters belong to Pixelberry except MC - Amber Smith-Beaumont

Warnings: Swearing, sarcasm 😉, smut

Tags - using combined tagged list, if you want to be removed please let me know 👍🏼

Catch up on the previous chapter here

@annekebbphotography @burnsoslow @drakesensworld @ladyangel70 @kingliam2019 @bbrandy2002 @butindeed @bascmve01 @drakewalker04 @pedudley @captain-kingliamsqueen @duchessemersynwalker @insideamirage @of-course-i-went-to-hartfeld @kozabaji @texaskitten30 @ibldw-main @kimmiedoo5 @nikkis1983 @dangerouseggseagleartisan @gnatbrain @walker7519 @lodberg @cmestrella @hopefulmoonobject @addictedtodrakefanfic @angi15h @liamxs-world @rafasgirl23415 @notoriouscs @yukinagato2012 @dcbbw @qammh-blog @nz1091 @beardedoafdonutwagon @cordonianroyalty @custaroonie @indiacater @seriouslybadchoices @rainbowsinthestorm @princess-geek @jared2612 @desiree-0816

******

Amber stood in the tent along with the other suitors, her mind was lost in thought- That would just be a waste- you’re too handsome. Regretting what she said, she had probably lost her only friend she had made here in the short amount of time. Overhearing Kiara gush about Drake to the other women, she felt jealous. Not knowing why- she had Brett even if he treat her like shit. As she explained to Maxwell she had made her bed and needed to lay in it.

“You and Drake have always been close, maybe he will understand that you are both supposed to be together once the social season is over.” Penelope explained softly to her best friend.

“Kiara you aren’t his type, get over it! What do you think Amber?” Olivia pulled Amber into the conversation.

“Sorry. What are you talking about?” Lying she knew exactly what they was discussing- instead she just chose not to get herself involved.

“What type of girl do you think Walker is in to?”

“How do I know? I’ve only just met him.”

“But you danced with him earlier on this morning.” Olivia stated stirring the pot- whilst Kiara gave Amber dagger eyes.

“I danced with Maxwell too, what’s that got to do with anything? I’m rusty with all this shit. I haven’t been here in a couple of years. And with Bertrand, he expects me to turn into a noble at the click of a finger- but no offence I don’t want to be like you guys.”

“You danced with Drake?” Kiara barely whimpered. Green with envy she wondered what the new girl had that she didn’t.

“Maxwell forced it. You know how persistent he is.”

“Stay away from Drake, he belongs to Kiara.” Penelope and Kiara stood in front of Amber, practically suffocating her.

“Even if he hates her? Okay then Lady Penelope. Whatever. Anyone else’s arse you want to suck up to? Because with me- you can kiss my ass instead! Excuse me ladies, I’m going to find my family before the next event.”

*****

Leo and Liam were still sat in the private tent, wondering if Drake had been kidnapped- usually he would go to the bar and return immediately. Focusing his gaze towards the suitors tent, Leo witnessed a commotion between the ladies.

“Oh shit! Kiara and Penelope look as if they are about to hit Amber. We need to get down there now! Where the fuck is Drake?” Liam averted his gaze towards the tent, hoping that Olivia wasn’t the instigator- another reason for his father to convince him that she isn’t suitable for the role of Queen.

“I don’t know. Liv is there. She will look after Amber... or maybe not. Where is she going?”

“I don’t know Liam. She will be okay won’t she?”

“She seems strong enough. Sensible enough to remove herself from the situation.”

“That mouth of hers will protect her.” Returning to their conversation, they both kept an eye on the tent - knowing if anything else was to elaborate they would spring into action resolving the situation.

*****

Not knowing where she was going she headed to a stable, just to save herself from knocking Kiara and Penelope straight out.

“Who the fuck does she think she is? That girl must have a millions dreams keeping her awake. Dreams about Drake. Penelope needs to butt out- she needs to get a hobby or something?” Noticing a horse neighing, she pat it’s nose- hoping to calm it down. The door slammed shut due to the breeze- scaring the horse and herself, deep down she was becoming panic stricken. Why do I always end up in the shit? Hearing a knock on the door, she hoped whoever was at the other side would help her escape. Should she run, should she stay frozen or should she scream for help?

“Amber move!”

“Drake?” Ignoring her, his main priority was to keep her safe from the horse. Drake calmed the horse down, before leading it back into a pen. Turning towards Amber, she provided him with a thankful look.

“What are you doing in here?”

“I could ask you the same? Your girlfriend and her Rottweiler hate me for some reason. Can’t you just get laid with her to get her off my back?”

“I assume the Rottweiler is Penelope?” She nodded. “I don’t need to get laid, I have two hands to use. I would never sleep with a noble. I don’t find them attractive- they are all snobs.”

“What’s your type then? They were all talking about it- I’m surprised your ears weren’t burning.” Oh great, I’m now court gossip between the ladies.

“What’s your type? If we are getting all personal?”

“Why have you avoided the question?”

“Why have you?”

“You avoided it first. My type is stood right in front of me if you must know.” Drake knew she was probably just flirting. Not knowing if he should do it back- could he do it back?

“Oh really? Maybe it’s just the whiskey talking? Come on let’s get you back to the Beaumont’s.” Grabbing his hand, she knew he was about to avoid her.

“Before we go. Thank you for saving me from being trampled. But I need some court gossip to get in with the crowd. What’s your type Drake?”

A million dreams are keeping me awake

I think of what the world could be

A vision of the one I see

“I’d be a real low life to allow a girl to become trampled. I don’t have a type, but if I did....” Pausing he didn’t want to tell her the full truth- sure she said he was her type, but did she mean it?

“If you did?”

“What are you both doing here?” Liam asked interrupting their conversation. Leo eyeing the pair up was wondering what they had walked into.

“I needed to get away before I killed my ‘competition’. Drake saved me from being trampled by that horse. If the horse didn’t kill me, Bertrand most certainly would have done. I’ll leave you gentlemen to it.” Amber walked out of the stable with her head hung low, being here was confusing her. She had practically told Drake he was her type and he never reacted or elaborated to her response- instead insisted that they left the stable. After testing the waters, she was going forget about her premature feelings for the commoner.

“So? I thought you went to for some drinks? Where are the drinks? How did you both end up here?”

“She said something to me, I wanted to walk to the suitor tent to talk to her about it. I waited a while, and followed her here.”

“And? Do continue...”

“As she said, I saved her from the horse.”

“Nothing else happened?”

“She... she told me I was her type. I froze. I didn’t know how to react, so I suggested that we left.”

“So you do have feelings for her?”

“Liam, can you shut your brother up. Please!”

“No can do Drake. I can’t control his mouth.”

“What I don’t understand is why you’re stood here like a wet lemon? Go and talk to her.”

“There’s Nothing to say. But I do have something to tell you both. I’m going to go back to Texas for a bit.”

“What? Why? Is this because of Kiara? Or maybe Amber. Drake and Amber kissing in a tree....”

“Jesus Leo! Shut the fuck up!” Leaving the stable and the two brothers there- he didn’t want to express his true feelings to anyone, especially not motormouth Leo.

“Leo I have a plan, I’m going to kiss Amber- see how Drake reacts. I’ll inform Liv prior.” He whispered to his brother, who just smirked at him with a devilish grin.

*****

At the lawn party, Amber decided now was the time to become a actress- overhearing that the party wouldn’t too long she was already on the countdown. Allowing the other suitors to take the spotlight, Olivia noticed the change in personality.

“What’s up with you? Where’s the sarcasm?”

“I’ve just made a complete fool of myself, as usual.”

“Go on...”

“I don’t want to be here, I never wanted to come. Max and Bertrand keep trying to persuade me to stay. I became close to someone, someone I shouldn’t have. I’m different to you all. I don’t belong here. I’m a failure in life- I always fuck up one way or another.”

“I see it in your eyes. You believe that lie. That you need to hide your face. Afraid to step outside. So you lock the door. But don't you stay that way.... you can prove there’s more to you. You’re a Beaumont. Come alive. Enjoy your time here. By the way, fuck Walker.”

“There’s nothing more to me. But thanks. And who said I was referring to him?”

“You didn’t need to say anything, you blush every time his name is mentioned.”

“It’s warm outside that’s the reason why.”

“If you say so. Come on the Queen is waiting for us.” The two women walked over to the other suitors, who were greeted one by one by the Prince.

“So? Did she say anything?” Liam whispered as he kissed Olivia on the cheek. Watching Amber in a trance, he wondered what was on her mind.

“No need to say anything. She’s totally falling for him. They both seem as stubborn as each other. Stick to your plan. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Lady Amber.” Greeting him with a curtsy, he greeted her with a kiss on the hand.

“Your highness.”

“Would you care to join myself, step mother and Madeleine in a game of Croquet?”

“If you insist. You do know Croquet is kind of the Beaumont’s thing? We whip everyone’s arses.” Laughing, Liam was fully aware that one of the Beaumont’s specialities was Croquet. Whilst playing, he updated her about Madeleine- explaining every detail.

“She sounds like a nightmare.”

“Oh she definitely is that.” Liam shuddered- Regina announced that Liam and Amber had won. The prince focused his gaze onto his best friend and his brother, Leo winked. As Liam became closer to Amber, he cupped her cheeks and forced a kiss onto her lips. Breaking apart, he noticed Drake leave immediately, as did Amber.

“Why would you do that? You could have least asked- and then I would have told you to shove that Croquet mallet up your ass if you must know.”

“I’m sorry Lady Amber, it was the heat of the moment. Please forgive me.”

“Forget it, I’m going to go back to my room if I’m allowed to?”

“Of course you are.” Drake will have gone back- I assume anyway. “I’ll have my guard, Bastien escort you back. I’ll inform the Beaumont’s for you.”

“Thank you.”

*****

Arriving back inside the palace, she walked along the quiet hallways- noticing the door two doors away from her room open slightly ajar, she decided to knock.

“Hey, I didn’t know we were neighbours? Are... are you going somewhere?” Noticing the suitcase and screwed up clothes on the bed- she couldn’t pin point where he was going.

“I... Erm.... I’m going back to Texas for a bit. Liam doesn’t need me here at this moment in time.”

“You’re actually leaving? Who am I going to drink whiskey with? Do you need a woman’s touch? Because your clothes are going to have more wrinkles on them than my gran used to.”

“Don’t worry, I know I owe you a bottle- there’s a secret stash in the wardrobe.”

“How about we open it now? I’ll help you pack?” Please don’t leave me. Drake nodded, watching her fold his clothes neatly- he couldn’t take it anymore. Placing his hand near the suitcase, their hands brushed each others and lingered for a few seconds.

“Why did you leave the lawn party?”

“I’ve got a flight to catch.”

“So why not just leave after the derby if you’re in such a rush?”

“I... I ... just needed to witness whoever Liam chose to play with him beat Madeleine and wipe that smirk off her face.”

“Now I know you’re lying because no one knew she was going to be there or even be a suitor. Liam told me whilst we were playing. What’s the real reason? Have I upset you or something? Has Kiara upset you?”

“You’d never upset me. Why would you think that? It isn’t Kiara either.” Sighing she sat on the bed, with the whiskey.

“Okay. You don’t have to tell me. Thank you for being so kind to me whilst I’ve been here. It’s going to be shit without you. Do you think I could sneak out and just hide somewhere for the rest of the social season?”

“You could try but Bertrand would hunt you down. I’m only nice with people who I like. Take it as a compliment.” Smiling at him, she stood up and rinsed the tumbler she had been drinking from. “Have a good time in the states.”

“Amber. Wait.” Turning back around, she saw him become anxious- fumbling around in his pockets.

“What is it?”

“The real reason for why I’m leaving.. I can’t be around you.” Feeling like her heart was shattering into a thousand pieces, she wondered what she had done to him to make him leave the country. “I can’t be around you- because everywhere I go you are there, I’ve tried to get you out of my mind but I just can’t. I know you have a boyfriend, I know you are Liam’s suitor as a favour for the Beaumont’s....” Closing his eyes, he knew he had gone to far- being too open, possibly making a fool of himself. “In the stable, I was going to say that I don’t have a type but if I did it would be someone like you.” Closing the gap between them, Amber placed her arms around his neck- whilst his arms hesitantly went around her petite frame. I can’t stop thinking about you either.

“Amber...” tilting her chin upwards, he cupped her cheeks- needing and wanting to kiss her. “You need to go before I do something I regret.”

“What would that be?”

“I want to kiss you, but I know I’ll regret it.”

“Why?”

“Because you have a boyfriend, because I’ll want more. I won’t be able to get you out of my mind at all.” Standing on her tiptoes, she lent in- closing her eyes as her lips touched his. Breaking the kiss, she smiled at him- Drake was in a trance.

“Did you regret that?” Drake shook his head. God she’s a good kisser, for fuck sake. How can I leave her now I’ve kissed her? Feeling the bulge in his pants, she smirked whilst biting her bottom lip.

“I spoke to soon. Your erm... he’s speaking for you. I suppose I better leave you alone- to possibly to sort yourself out.” She winked, whilst tracing her finger down his chest.

“I did tell you before I had two hands.”

“What else can those hands do?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know? These hands are very talented.”

“Well I did ask. Why don’t you show me instead?”

*****

Liam, Leo and Olivia walked to Ambers room to make sure she was okay after leaving the lawn party abruptly. Seeing her absence- they knew where to find her. Or so they hoped. Slowly opening Drakes door due to no answer- they all were shocked that neither of them were in their rooms, and that Amber wasn’t with him. Walking into the room, Olivia picked something up.

I knew you nosey bastards would come to my room, if you are reading this you have obviously realised that myself and Amber aren’t there. I’ve taken her away for the night- if you know where we are you’re all welcome to join us- we can have a goodbye party before I go to Texas. D x

“He’s taken her to his cabin.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because he doesn’t want to cause a scandal by spending private time alone here. I didn’t think he had it in him.”

“Yes. That kiss obviously worked Liam. Well done. So I guess we are going to Valtoria then?” They all smirked- contacting Maxwell- he insisted on tagging along. Getting in the SUV- they didn’t know what to expect once they got there.

*****

Arriving at the cabin, they snuck upto the large glass window as if they were ninjas.

“Okay, so Drakes half naked, Amber is wrapped up in a blanket. Do you think they....”

“Leo please don’t talk about my cousin like that. It could be innocent? Come on let’s go inside.”

All entering the warm cabin, they announced themselves- noticing that neither Drake nor Amber were surprised with their unexpected visit, they were wondering if Leo had misread the situation.

“Amber I’d stick to your normal clothes- Drake doesn’t have the best fashion sense.” Olivia said sarcastically, always wanting to bring him down.

“Nice to see you too Liv. If you must know she got wet.”

“I bet she did.” Leo winked towards them both.

“What are you insinuating Zimmer? I fell in the lake and Drake jumped in to save me. The second time today.”

“How about we escape the palace tonight, go to my family’s cabin in Valtoria. I’ll take you fishing, make you the best s’mores, we can build a fire outside. Show you exactly what my hands can do.”

“That sounds amazing!”

“Go and pack a bag then. I’ll leave a note explaining where we are.”

Drake drove them to the cabin in his truck, both stealing glances off each other - neither wanting to elaborate on the kiss that they had shared.

“Oh my god. This is beautiful! Why do you stay at the palace? If I had this place I’d definitely stay here.”

“I do stay here a lot, but it gets lonely.”

“If you wasn’t going to Texas we could have just hung out here.” Ignoring the fact, he suggested that they went fishing before it became dark. On the boat they sat in silence, impatiently waiting for a catch. The scenery was quaint and beautiful.

“I’ve caught one!” Amber screeched. Standing up, she couldn’t reel it in. Losing her balance she fell into the cold water.

“Jesus Christ!” Drake jumped in immediately after her- he slowly watched her lose her balance but didn’t believe that she would fall in. “Are you okay?” Holding her tightly, he didn’t want to be the reasoning behind her drowning.

“Yeah, I don’t think fishing is my forte. Bertrand didn’t teach me that.”

“I’m going to lift you back on to the boat, please try not to fall off it this time. I think we better get you safe back on to dry land before Bertrand drowns me himself.” Lifting her up into his arms, she grabbed the side of the boat pulling herself in- turning around she held her hand out to help her saviour.

“I’ve got a spare shirt in that bag, put it on.”

“What about you?” Taking his top off, he would rather catch pneumonia than her. Amber turned away not wanting him to notice her gawking at his muscled body- fuck he’s got a good body.

“I’m fine. Just get yourself warm. I’ll get you back and make sure you sit infront on the fire with lots of blankets and whiskey.”

The friends all listened to Amber reiterate their disastrous fishing trip. Leo was still curious as to what else had happened between the two of them.

“So when are you going to Texas?”

“I should have been on the flight now.”

“I knew you wouldn’t go. I’m glad you decided to stay.” Liam looked between Drake and Amber knowing the reason why. Maxwell persuaded Amber to join him in the kitchen for a private chat, the others watched the Beaumont’s leave- before all smirking at Drake.

“What?”

“You know what.” Shaking his head, he didn’t like to gossip but he knew they wouldn’t shut up.

“We shared a small kiss. That is it. Okay?”

“About time.” That’s all its going to be. Moments in between sharing whiskey, hanging out. I don’t want her to get hurt by this Brett guy.

*****

“I thought you may want your phone, you seem to not be attached to it like you usually are.”

“Thanks Max. All I get is shit from Brett, I’m tempted to just throw the SIM card and start over with a new life.”

“A new life here? Is this because of Mr tall, dark and handsome over there?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe? Care to elaborate?”

“We kissed before.....”

“You what?”

“We kissed, he said I was his type. He’s my type too.. I’m so confused Max. I don’t want to go back to New York.” Passing her phone over to her, he would support her whatever she chose. “You know what to do. You can flip the switch and brighten up your darkest day.” “No more living in those shadows.” Amber responded before dialling his number, Maxwell held her in his embrace- she knew exactly what he meant.

“Amber!”

“Hi Brett.”

[eternally-drifting]

La Mariachi (Kim Seokjin/Jin FF) 1

“I don’t know how you did it, but you’ve made this foreigner, immensely in love with you - to the point I don’t ever want to go back to Korea. I want to stay here, with ‘La Mariachi’… with you.”

Or

A broken heart leads Seokjin into leaving Korea under the guise of taking over one of his fathers business over seas - leaving everything behind - and start over. Never did he think - that walking into a Cantina, would lead him into sharing his broken heart with the main attraction of the establishment.

KEY (please read first)

pairing: Seokjin / Jin x OC (named original character)

genre: AU, fluff, angst, comedy

word count: 2636

Masterlist

Playlist

Chapter 1/? next>

A/N: All translations - depending on how many there are - will be at the top unless stated otherwise . Also this isn’t edited so bare with me. Salud!

© This work is copyright just-slowly-drifting 2020, all rights are reserved. This fic can not be modified, re-posted or translated without my permission.

—-

“Seokjin!”

The yelling and pleading voice of a woman is heard all throughout the hallway. Echoing off the walls and tall ceiling. Joined along with the clacking of heels, and the slight squeak of black dress shoes. Trailing behind the two are three men, all calling out to the man stalking at the front.

“Seokjin, w-wait! Please stop and let me explain! P-please!” A chocked sob stops her from speaking any further. She tries to clear her eyes from the tears, wanting to catch up to him. Only to stumble on her heels as they tugged on her big, white, wedding dress.

They say that the bride is always the most beautiful woman in the room on her wedding day. She, however, looks the complete opposite. The once perfect makeup, ruined, mascara running down from her eyes, as the tears leave streaks across the foundation. Her hair falling out of place from all the running.

“Jin, calm down!” Yoongi’s voice is heard shouting from the back. It’s of no use, the man has already decided.

“Seokjin, don’t, not here in front of everyone!” Namjoon tries to reason with him. Hoping to bring some sort of logical reasoning to his mind. “Think rationally for a moment, Seokjin!” Jimin huffed as he tries to keep up with all of them as he talks on the phone to Hoseok on the other side.

“-mn, what’s wrong? Where is Jin? Everyone’s starting to look uneasy.” Jimin could hear the people in the background, no doubt wondering the exact same thing Hoseok was. The ceremony was supposed to commence an hour and half ago – and with no appearance from the groom or bride – the guests were starting to get antsy.

Spearing a glance up, he notices how little distance is between Jin and the double doors leading into the venue. Jimin’s eyes widen with panic, quickly, he rushes to warn Hoseok. “Hoseok, you, Tae, and Jungkook need to block the doors off, right now! Don’t make it too noticeable, but make sure that Seokjin doesn’t get past them!” Before Hoseok can even question him, Jimin hangs up. Sprinting towards the others as they try to hold Jin back, but it was futile.

Pushing past the double doors, blocking Jungkook’s intent on keeping him outside the venue, he calmly walks up the aisle, smiling at every individual sat in the rows confused on the situation. Reaching the alter, he turns to everyone with a ‘friendly’ smile. Looking around, he spots the man he’s looking for, the man that he so happily named his best man… his own brother.

‘Why, Daejung?’

Seokjin’s eyes sting with tears, so many emotions coursed their way through his body. He could feel the rage running through his veins and gaining control over him.

All heads turn towards the double doors a screech is heard. Everyone witnessing the bride tripping on her dress as his groom’s men try to drag her out. They struggle with trying to remove her from the sight, avoiding every swing of her arms aimed at them.

“S- seok- seokjin… let me explain, p-ple- plea-se!” Her chest heaved as she slowly tried to catch her breath.

He can see her hands profusely shaking. How her lips tremble every time she tries to talk. The only thing he can think to do is glare at her, and slowly direct it to his brother.

Everything is quiet except for the shaky breathing of the bride. No one dares to say anything, the atmosphere is so tangent, so nerve wrecking. It leaves everyone feeling like a fish out of water.

The stare down continues, and it isn’t until Daejung bites his lip, and ducking down his head down in shame.

‘At least he had the decency.’ Seokjin thought fighting a scoff.

Clearing his throat, he calls all the people’s attention. All eyes are on him, each one hold confusion and questions, wanting answers to the situation at hand. All wanting to know what ‘gossip’ they can tell everyone after this all ends.

He isn’t given much of a chance as the rest of his groom’s men come to stand in front of him. Blocking him off from the crowd. Each of them wanting to deescalate the situation at hand.

“Seokjin, please. Don’t do this here, not in front of everyone. Not in front of your parents!” Jimin could only hope that his reasoning would work in bringing Jin back into his senses. He understands, they all do. He’s hurt, and no one can blame him for feeling that; but causing a scene isn’t going to help anything.

“Why shouldn’t I?! After what these two did to me – I think it’s only fair!” His voice was filled with such venom, it sent a chill down everyone’s spine. All the men looked at each other, quickly trying to come up with a plan on calming their friend down just enough to get him out of the venue and into one of the empty rooms.

“You’re angry and we unde-“ Seokjin scoffed out a laugh, face lifting upward towards the ceiling. A sarcastic smile was etched at the corners of his lips. Shaking his head as he looked at Namjoon in the eye. They were dark, cold, and oh so emotionless. The light that once shone through them, was now eclipsed.

“No, don’t you dare. Don’t you dare say you understand, don’t dare to stand there and tell me you know what it is that I’m feeling right now! You don’t, you have absolutely no idea, about how I feel!” He was quickly shushed by everyone as he growled out.

“Out of my way.” Jin quickly shoved through his members, fixing his blazer, and clearing his throat, he calls for the guests’ attention. Completely ignoring the protests behind him and the presence beside him, he ignored the sensation of eyes burning through his head on the other end.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I would first like to thank you for coming to celebrate… what would have been a very… very lovely wedding.” He jerked his arm away when he felt it being grabbed.

“Seokjin, please, let’s talk! Let me explain!” She pleaded with all her might – he could hear the desperation in her voice, and he hated to admit it; but it hurt him to hear her like that. The pain, the pain in his chest, the ache of his heart, was just too much at this point. He closes his eyes for a quick second to recompose himself.

‘It hurts, it hurts beyond my comprehension… why Young Mi?’ No, he won’t cry, not here, not in front of everyone. Not in front of them.

With his newfound determination, he was going to give them what they both want. What they have wanted from the beginning. So, he’ll be the kind and caring brother. He’ll give DaeJung what he wants, let him have what he has. Like always.

“I’m afraid that there has been a change in plans.” Young Mi had her hands pressed against her lips as begged for Jin to stop and hear her out. “Please – for one moment! Let m-“ her begging only hurt him more. Because he knew that she was only doing this to protect DaeJung.

“But seems that the groom has been replaced. Isn’t that right DaeJung?” Jin sneered as he turned to face his brother. “It appears to be that the bride and the best man are the ones that should be getting married today. Correct, Young Mi?” She looked at him with glassy, red eyes. Her lips trembled as she tightly shook her head ‘no’. All he did was watch as she mouthed out ‘please’ and ‘don’t’. Each of which made the sadistic side of him pleased with her humiliation.

“I apologize for wasting your time, but don’t worry, there will still be a wedding. The groom has just been swapped.” His eyes hardened with each word, hands clenching and unclenching. Looking back at Young Mi, his eyes focus on the ring she wears, his ring. Seeing her still wearing it, filled him with such disgust. So much so, he could feel the bile start to rise.

He reaches out for her wrist, holding it with a vice. The sudden move scared her, and she let out a yelp at the way Jin was holding onto her. She looks up at him, and instantly shrinks back into herself. Seokjin slowly leans his face down to hers, nose a hairs breath away that she stops breathing. He grabs her chin with his other hand and forces her to look him in the eyes.

“You have no use for this now.” His snarled words caused the others to attention. Jimin and Namjoon quickly coming up to the pair right as Seokjin tears his ring off her finger. Throwing it to the ground, he watches as Young Mi bends down, crawling to reach the ring before it could roll any further. Scoffing, he turns marching towards his brother.

He didn’t get far with Jungkook, Taehyung, and Hoseok blocking his way. “Move!” Try as he may, he couldn’t really push past the youngest. He could hear all the gasps from the crowd as Jungkook held him back from strangling his brother to death. “Stop it Jin, it’s not worth it!” Jungkook whispered.

Seokjin shoved Jungkook aside and stalked up to DaeJung, getting face to face with him. Giving one last hard glare at him “You always want what I have – well – now, you can have it.” Jin bumped into DaeJung’s shoulder, making way out of the venue. Once again, followed by shouts of his name and this time, six pair of feet chasing after him.

The room was packed with instruments, guitars, violins, trumpets, etc. Each of them scattered about. The bench, lockers, chairs, and even the vanity had a trumpet or two splayed across it.

The stomping of footsteps slowly ascended in noise. Following it, could be heard the chatter and laughter of various people. The door is roughly pushed open, boots scuffling along wooden floors, espuelas clinking as they walk along.

Amongst all the laughter and cheers, there are uneasy looks spread amongst all of them. Nail biting, lip chewing, legs bouncing up and down. All indications of anxiousness.

“Oye, I’ve had enough of this beating around the bush, shit. Where is s-“

A bottle of tequila slammed down onto the vanity, causing the trumpets to shake and nearly fall. A rough voice cuts through the silence “Will you relax! Mira, she’ll be here. Calmado.” The other men in the room start protesting, being annoyed with the situation at hand, they begin to come up with ‘backup plans.’ All of which sounded just as ridiculous as the last.

“All I’m saying, is that if she doesn’t show up, we put Mejillas over there – front and center. Let all the mujeres have their way with him.” Claps and whistles burst all around as Mejillas stood up and slowly started to ‘strip’. Followed by the chanting of ‘tubo, tubo, tubo, tubo’.

Refugio leaned back against the vanity watching them all fool around, taking their minds off everything for a minute or two. Pulling out his phone, he checks the time, only for him to frustratingly tug at his hair. He doesn’t know whether he should inform them of the timing or not. Looking back at the time, he bits his lip.

‘Seis minutos left’. His eyes close, brows furrowed in frustration. They left the house together, juntos! Where is she? She doesn’t ever leave the house! So why does her little aventura, need to be tonight! Licking his lips, he breaths in deeply, ready to deliver the news that she might not be here.

“Muchachos” Clearing his throat, they all give him the undivided attention, waiting to hear what he has to say. “We might just have to use Mejillas after all.” The onslaught of groans and whines echoed within the dressing room. All Refugio could do is look down and tap his espuela on the concrete floor.

“Cuco, you sa-“ the door slammed open bouncing back from hitting the wall. With her back faced towards them, she dragged something in. Huffing, she let the rest of what was being dragged fall to the floor. Brushing off the dust on her jeans, she turns around, eyes widening when she notices the unamused looks and glares directed at her.

“Que?” She starts to make her way towards the vanity, wondering if she had anything on her face for them to look at her like that.

“Come que ‘que’. You’re late that’s what, where were you?” She looked down and sighed, picking at her nails as she made her way and sat down in the chair. Turning to face the vanity, she looked at Refugio through the mirror as she got ready.

“It’s a long story and we need to get out there for tonight, you guys go ahead, I’ll catch up when I’m done.” Directing her eyes at the rest of them through the mirror, she bites her lip and nods. With no more time left, they all agree and leave for her to get ready. “What songs do we start off with then? Which one are you gonna perform first ternura?” She connects her gaze with the guitarron, slowly trailing them up to meet with hazel eyes, hooded with thick eyelashes. Her heart skips several beats.

Quickly regaining her composure, she grabs the makeup stuffed in the draws, pretending to be focused on getting ready. “You guys can start off with whichever songs you’d like, pero the crowd seems to be filled with a lot of heartbroken souls esta noche. Why not start it off with ‘De Que Manera Te Olvido’ just to share the sentiment.” All seemed to agree with the option, some even giving her a smirk.

“Never took you for estafadora, Soledad.” She can see his gaze on her through the mirror, watching as he laughs, smile so wide it causes crinkles at the corner of his eyes. Her heart continued to skip beat, after beat. She could possibly die and wouldn’t give it a single shit. If something as simple as a laugh and smile can nearly cause her cardiac arrest, then she doesn’t know how she’ll stay alive.

“I’m filled with surprises, Cesar.” Internally cringing at herself she claps her hands. “Ahora si, go and give the crowd what they want, show them what they came for.” With that said, an eruption of cheers and gritos followed. All of them trailing out of the room.

“The song, ternura?” She looks up, and shyly smiles. And he instantly knew which song she was thinking about. “Luz De Luna”. He smiles once more before nodding and walking out of the dressing room.

Now only leaving her with her interrogator. Mentally, she comes up with a clear explanation, but before she can even think of one, he cuts to the chase.

He walks up behind her, standing behind the chair with his sombrero held in one hand and his trumpet in the other. The stern looks in his eyes is enough for her to shrink down into her chair. He points at her through the mirror. “I’m not gonna ask right now because we’re behind on schedule. But you and I will have a talk later, don’t think I’ll forget.” His espuelas jingling as he walks back.

“I’m sorry Refugio. I didn’t mean to ge-“

“Not now, Soli. Like you said, let’s just go and give the crowd what they came here for. You, need to give them what they came here for.” Refugio is stood in front of the door, back faced towards her he tilts his head to the side, softly, he reminders her of who they truly came here for.

“La Mariachi.”

[bugaboosandbees]

Rally to the Queen

Okay. I know that I shouldn’t be starting anything else new, and I definitely won’t start actually writing this until I finish with my Reine Ruse AU, but I ended up getting so attached to my Bee!Kagami design (and so salty about Onichan!Kagami) that I ended up with a whole slew of headcanons about a post-Riposte Bee!Kagami Kagaminette AU.

I call it Rally to the Queen.

Here’s what goes down.

This takes place immediately after Riposte.

Marinette still feels really bad about judging the point wrong. She talks to Adrien to ask how Kagami is doing. He says that he thinks that she’s okay now, but Kagami was totally exhibiting some behaviors that he recognized as the son of a largely absent parent with absurd standards. He doesn’t have the time he’d like to have to check in on Kagami, so he also tells Marinette that it sounded like Kagami was under a lot of pressure at home and was afraid of her mother judging her for losing the fight.

Marinette, of course, feels terrible and her patented Dupain-Cheng-family we-must-adopt-everyone genes kick in, so she decides to track down Kagami’s home address to apologize formally and to make sure that Kagami’s mom knows what really went down.

When she gets there, she’s flustered and awkward as usual but good-hearted and although Kagami’s mom initially is not thrilled about the weird intrusion, she doesn’t hate Marinette.

Since she’s there, she and Kagami end up chatting either that day or some other time. Marinette mentions that she’s looking forward to trying out for the fencing team again the following year to learn aside Adrien and Kagami.

Kagami realizes that she took the only spot on the team. She’s not the sort to feel bad about this and wouldn’t normally, but Marinette was being so kind and she’d actually tried to stand up to her mother for her, so she offers to give her fencing lessons. (Maybe she covers it up as extra practice for her as she’s not really much of a touchy-feely person.)

Anyway, Marinette starts going to Kagami’s house once a week for fencing practice. She always brings fresh baked goods. I don’t think Kagami has many friends, especially with how intense we’ve seen her family to be and being so new to Paris, so she might not really know how to deal with Marinette’s brand of friendship at first.

They become really good friends. I actually think they really would if they spent any sort of time together in canon without misunderstandings and Adrien and sometimes somewhat suspect writing in the way. They are both determined, powerful young women with hearts of steel and an unstoppable drive towards something that they’re very passionate about. They’re both straightforward and value honesty and dislike liars. They would be an UNSTOPPABLE team.

I don’t think Sapotis happens in this AU. There’s no salt against Alya here, but I think it would be reasonable for Marinette avoid giving a miraculous to her best friend no matter how much she’d like to share being superheroes with her. This is because Alya is shown in season one especially to be very adamant about revealing Ladybug’s identity. This was even the main goal of her akumatized form, Lady Wifi. Marinette loves Alya deeply, but I think that there would be reasonable doubt there about whether or not Alya would be able to keep her own secret or if she would use her position as a sometimes-superhero to discover more about Ladybug. We’ve seen in canon that Marinette obviously hates lying to her best friend, so I think it’s reasonable to think that she wouldn’t manufacture a situation where she had to do so even more.

Also, even though Anasai technically took place before Queen’s Battle, just go with me here and assume it didn’t and that Style Queen was the first akuma that Ladybug needed help with. We know that she picked the Bee miraculous in Style Queen and, as Marinette is good friends with Kagami already in this AU, she definitely sees how much this miraculous would play to her friend’s strengths. They also fence together all the time, so Marinette knows how Kagami fights and wouldn’t have to learn a new teammate’s style in the middle of an already complicated fight. Since Kagami isn’t Alya, she wouldn’t already be at the Effiel tower and wouldn’t be turned to glitter by Style Queen, so Marinette would be able to safely get the Bee miraculous to her.

Ladybug and Mitsubachi are a deadly combination. Style Queen never stood a chance. Everything goes pretty smoothly and Ladybug is able to get the Bee miraculous back from Kagami without incident. (That being said, Marinette is a flustered bi mess and totally fumbled once or twice in the fight because damn, Kagami makes a deadly and attractive superhero.)

And because I’m a sucker for redeeming Chloe I am physically incapable of leaving her out of this AU. Oops, lol. Without Queen Bee, the Queen’s Battle arc would definitely have some pretty substantial changes. Chloe’s mom would still be being pretty awful and Chloe wouldn’t have gotten her hands on the Bee miraculous. She’d still have to be upset enough to get akumatized over her mom (so Gabe wouldn’t give up being Hawkmoth (also, he’d have only just learned that the Guardian was in Paris so that might be another incentive)) but she wouldn’t become Queen Wasp because she was never Queen Bee in the first place.

Instead, she becomes a different sort of version of @imthepunchlord ‘s Princess Amour akumanette concept. She just really wants to be loved. Maybe instead of having a Chat Noir “knight” as the akumanette had, some ladybug merch of her’s would hold the akuma and turn into a version of Ladybug that would help and protect and validate Chloe as her knight. After LB beats this akuma, she has an honest talk with Chloe that night because she could see that Chloe was really struggling and, despite their very checkered past couldn’t help but wanting to help.

Ladybug gives Chloe some advice and Chloe does her level best to live up to it in her day to day life. It’s a long hard road and it doesn’t come easily, but every once in awhile Ladybug will drop by and knowing that her heroine is proud of her gives Chloe the push she needs to change for the better.

I should also mention that I’m switching the places of the fox and peacock miraculouses in this AU. If we’re still working with the headcanon that Mr. and Mrs. Agreste used the miraculouses that Gabe has, it makes sense that they’d have the butterfly because everything we’ve been lead to believe indicates that it was a good fit for Mrs. Agreste. That being said, what we know of the Peacock makes no effing sense for Gabe. He’s creative, crafty, and not above playing dirty. That man is a fox through and through, you can’t change my mind. Therefore, Fu has the peacock and the fox is the damaged miraculous sitting in the Agreste safe.

This is relevant, I promise.

So, Ladybug and Chat Noir have worked with Mitsubachi quite a few times. She fits pretty effortlessly into the team dynamic but is definitely with Ladybug in taking the job super seriously and not always being down with Chat’s attitude.

Kagami and Marinette are still hanging out. Kagami is falling for Marinette and Marinette is falling for Kagami, but Marinette had confided in Kagami earlier about her crush on Adrien, so Kagami thinks that Mari is still in love with Adrien and Marinette doesn’t think Kagami would be interested in her, so there’s an awful lot of mutual pining going on.

Hawkmoth is escalating and Fu approves of Kagami after testing her himself, so she gets the Bee miraculous on a permanent basis.

With the extra help, it’s a while before Ladybug’s lucky charm calls for another hero, but, when it does, she needs the peacock. Maybe she was going for Alya with this one, but, being the Ladyblogger, Alya has already gotten herself into the conflict and trapped by the akuma. As she’s looking around, Ladybug spots (lol, get it?) Chloe trying to get Sabrina and some other people to safety, consequently getting trapped or something. She goes to save Chloe, and when Chloe thanks her, she starts to wonder. Chloe has taken a good, hard look at herself and really improved in the past few months. She’s not perfect yet, but no one is. And, you know what? Getting the Ladybug miraculous went a long way towards making her a better Marinette. Mind made up, she offers the Peacock to Chloe and a new hero appears. (I’m thinking of naming Chloe’s peacock form Tirisi or Vindex -- Greek or Latin for (roughly) defender/protector/champion. See my rant on why the peacock miraculous’ powers make sense for my reasoning.)

Chloe gives the miraculous back when Ladybug asks and keeps working to improve herself so that her heroine might someday trust her again. (She loved being able to have the power and agency to connect with and help others -- she really loved feeling strong enough to save others and is starting to feel more confident that she can save herself.) She doesn’t spill her identity and becomes a reliable second-string hero when Ladybug’s lucky charm demands her presence.

Eventually turtle!Sabrina will also come into this AU because she really, really deserves her own character development. (And @mystery-vixen ‘ s design and art and @pyrepyro ‘s art for Turtle!Sabrina is the cutest shit I’ve ever seen in my life.) Maybe it’s some sort of Anasasi situation where Chloe’s in trouble and Sabrina is doing her level best to rescue her as a civilian, idk. (For turtle!Sabrina I was thinking Bouclier or Jadeite, unless you guys have ideas?)

Anyway, eventually, everyone has their miraculouses permanently. (This probably happens after Gabe and Natalie break out the fox.) Endgame is Kagaminette and Chlobrina, two sets of deadly wlw protecting Paris along with the bi disaster Chat Noir who is 100% willing to THROW THE FUCK DOWN with anyone who doesn’t respect the ladies of the superhero team. Chat Noir totally gets along with the whole squad, by the way. Between the four of them, the ladies are great friends and life coaches to our cat boi and help him work through what unhealthy attitudes he has in a respectful and caring way. They adopt him and are always hugging Chat or even just lightly resting a hand on his shoulder since they discovered he was touch-starved. (Especially Ladybug and Tirisi. All four would cut a bitch for that boy, but they’re the most touchy-feely.)

(Eventually snake!Luka joins the squad and he and Chat Noir get together and it’s just a giant group of badass queer superheroes kicking ass and protecting Paris.)

They eventually beat Hawkmoth and Adrien and Luka become the next Guardians (They’d do a great job, fight me). Marinette and Kagami are too busy for that anyway. They got married and Marinette started the world’s most successful fashion line while Kagami set some sort of ridiculous record for the number of gold medals a single person can win in fencing. Chloe and Sabrina get married and (because of Chloe) end up adopting a ridiculous amount of kids that they care for and love unconditionally.

Happily Ever After and The End. :)

Thanks for listening to my rant!

[princess-of-luxure]

Masquerade [2]

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You moved to the capital city, Altadellys, in search of job opportunities. You had anticipated several significant changes in your life, but nothing could have prepared you for almost getting robbed in an alley, only to be saved by a mysterious masked vigilante. Their mysterious appearance throws your life into chaos, and you soon find yourself swept up in the high-stakes underground operations of a group of… supervillains?!

You didn’t ask for any of this, but there’s just as much excitement amongst the potentially lethal drama. As secrets hundreds of years olds begin to unfold before you, can you be the missing link in solving a dangerous mystery, or will you bring everything to ruin?

Fandom: Reigning Passions (Visual Novel) Rating: Teen and Up Audiences Relationships: Gen (so far) Characters: Lyris (Reigning Passions), Main Character (Reigning Passions), Sevastian (Reigning Passions), Piama (Reigning Passions), Hazel (Reigning Passions) Content Warnings: None

Thank you everyone for voting on the last chapter! I got more votes than expected and even now I'm still getting new fans. I'm pleased to announce that choice b (Stay to try and diffuse the situation with Lyris and Piama, and hopefully get some answers) has won the vote! Hoping you enjoy this chapter.

As per usual, you can cast your vote on the end-of-chapter choice in a comment on AO3 here, or by sending me a DM or ask here on tumblr! You can also cast your vote by replying to the appropriate chapter, or by putting it in the tags of a reblog.

Chapter below the read more.

Guilt ached in your gut as you nibbled on your lower lip. It didn’t exactly feel good to blow Hazel off, but she was your best friend. It couldn’t be that difficult to reschedule, and besides, you couldn’t imagine the anxiety that would weigh on your shoulders if you didn’t discuss the hey-I’m-pretty-sure-you’re-a-masked-vigilante thing with Lyris while you had the chance. Decision made, you tried to steady your shaking hands as you typed out a reply.

You: I’m so so sorry

You: Something came up

You: Can we reschedule?

You didn’t wait for Hazel’s reply before tucking your phone back into your pocket, taking a deep breath as you assessed the situation. Lyris had mostly managed to mask his shock by now, though the intensity of his gaze on you still sent shivers down your spine. Not that you minded having a gorgeous guy’s attention, this just wasn’t exactly what you had pictured. Add the fact that Piama was still looking between the two of you with raised eyebrows, evidently waiting for an explanation, and this was starting to look like a social nightmare.

Okay, focus. You can’t spill his secret—even if you don’t have confirmation of it yet. Mustering up all your courage, you gave Lyris your friendliest smile. “Wow, fancy meeting you here!” Please go with it, please go with it, please go with it.

You could see the exact moment he snapped into the role, his charming smile overtaking his features. If you weren’t so busy trying to play off the whole situation as nothing to Piama, you would’ve probably had a bi panic. “A lovely coincidence indeed, my lady. It seems as though fate wished for us to meet.”

You stole a glance at Piama out of the corner of your eye. She still seemed surprised, but for different reasons now. “You know her, Lyris?” she asked skeptically.

“I had the pleasure of running into her earlier,” he replied smoothly, and okay, that part was technically the truth. Still, his mismatched eyes didn’t leave yours, and you had to remind yourself that the way he looked at you, like you were a jewel more precious than any known to man, was just part of his act. “I’m afraid I never got to introduce myself, however. If the lady would allow, I shall now rectify this error.”

He stepped closer to you, and you desperately fought back the blush that threatened to crawl up your cheeks. Slowly, deliberately, he bowed to you, just as he had under the guise of Peacock. “I am Lyris Rosi.” He gently caught your hand in his, raising it to his lips and brushing a feather-light kiss there.

You were pretty sure that the kiss had completely killed your last few brain cells because you found yourself stammering out your name despite the fact he already knew it. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to mind, releasing your hand and rising, still with that brilliant smile on his face. Plus, I guess it’s believability points for Piama. “A beautiful name for a beautiful maiden,” he complimented, and despite having heard it from him before, it still sent a jolt of lightheadedness through you. “If you would permit, I would much like to resume our earlier conversation in the privacy of my apartment?”

You heard Piama scoff, shattering the moment. “Inviting a pretty girl to your apartment already, Lyris?” She fixed him with a critical stare. “You better not make this awkward for me.”

Lyris gasped, his expression twisting into a mockery of hurt as he placed a hand to his chest. At least, you were pretty sure he was just acting. Damn, this guy was good. “You wound me, dear Piama. I assure you, my intentions are nothing but pure.”

“And yet you knew exactly what I was referring to with my comment.” Piama huffed, shaking her head before turning her gaze to you. “Do yourself a favour and avoid getting swept up in his charm. Underneath the bravado, he’s a giant nuisance.”

“You must be fond of ‘giant nuisances’ then, to hang around me so much,” Lyris noted, and you could see the familiar glint of a best friend’s teasing in his eyes.

“Hardly. Don’t get a swelled head over it.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m going to make some more tea. You two better behave yourselves.”

She swept from the room, and as soon as you were sure she was out of earshot, you breathed a sigh of relief, shoulders slumping as you released tension you didn’t even know you were holding. “Sorry for putting you on the spot there,” you apologized, forcing yourself to look back at Lyris. “I had no idea you’d be here.” Obviously! You mentally chided yourself for the stupid comment.

Lyris chuckled, and you couldn’t help but notice his smile seemed a touch more genuine. “You handled that very well,” he offered, and you felt your heart skip a beat. “And pay Piama’s words no mind. She seems to have gotten quite the wrong impression about you and I.”

You tilted your head, trying to figure out how he felt about that, but he was completely unreadable. Right, well. If all else fails, resort to humour. “Well, have you given her a reason to believe that before?” you teased.

There it was—the real smile you’d gotten to glimpse earlier in the day. “I suppose there may have been an incident or two in the past,” he admitted lightly, and you found yourself drawn to the playful glimmer in his eyes. “But I believe my intentions with you should be transparent.”

“Yeaaaah.” You rubbed the back of your neck, a sudden sheepishness crawling up your spine. “Look, I’m really sorry about this. I know this must be far from an ideal situation, but—”

Lyris gently raised a hand. Startled, you froze mid sentence. “It isn’t your fault,” he reassured, the melodic tones of his voice compelling you to believe him. “If anything, I should have been more careful.”

The fact that he didn’t seem angry or upset with you washed away most of your lingering anxiety. You offered him a tentative smile, idly brushing your fingers through your hair. “You know, we probably should head to your apartment before Piama comes back.”

“She’d be quite surprised to see us still here after our previous conversation,” Lyris agreed, offering his arm out to you. Your heart leapt into your throat as you scrambled at this opportunity, rushing to link arms with him without tripping over your own two feet.

“So, do you do this with every girl, or am I special?” you attempted to joke as he led you up the stairs. In hindsight, you figured this may have been a mistake, but seeing the slight curve of his lips and almost fond look he gave you, maybe it wasn’t too bad.

“I am a gentleman to all the women I have the pleasure of meeting, but you are special in more ways than one.” You hoped he didn’t notice how you clung to him tighter so as to not fall over at his words. Your brain struggled to come up with a response, but thankfully you were saved by Lyris pausing in front of a door. “Here we are. I’m afraid it isn’t much, but I hope it will be satisfactory.”

He led you inside and your jaw dropped. ‘Not much’ was indisputably an understatement—you knew Spring Apartments was on the higher end of quality housing, but Lyris’s apartment was borderline a penthouse. “How do you afford this place?” you burst out, unable to help yourself, immediately clapping a hand to your mouth as embarrassment colored your cheeks.

Lyris regarded you with an amused look. “That’s for me to know and you to never find out,” he quipped, before gesturing to a couch that may as well have been a piece of cloud for how heavenly it looked. “Take a seat. Would you like something to drink?”

You shook your head, trying to push down your nerves as you sank into the cushions. You were right, it did feel like you were resting upon clouds. “No thanks. I already drank two cups of coffee recently, I wouldn’t want to be bouncing off your walls.” You chuckled at yourself, trying to appear more confident than you felt.

“Of course, I understand,” Lyris hummed, and you couldn’t help but feel disappointed as he settled onto the couch opposite you. “Now as to what brought you here—”

“Mrrrow?” Both you and Lyris turned to look at what was the fluffiest Persian cat you’d ever seen in your life. Their long white fur was immaculately groomed, and their collar was bedazzled with… pink rhinestones. Okay, at this point you were certain Lyris either came from money, or his profession paid extremely well.

“Madame Whiskers, so nice of you to join us,” Lyris greeted, and the cat turned her judgmental stare on him. “That’s right, it’s time for your dinner, isn’t it? How silly of me to forget.”

“Mrrrow!” You didn’t speak cat, but you were pretty sure Madame Whiskers was agreeing, her gaze seeming to pierce right into your host. You noticed she had heterochromia just like her owner, though hers was of the blue and green variety.

Lyris reached down to scratch Madame Whiskers behind the ears as he addressed you. “Forgive me, Madame Whiskers gets quite huffy if she isn’t fed on time.” He bent down, placing a kiss on top of her forehead, and she blinked back at him lazily. “Now play nice with our guest, my precious princess. I’ll be back in just a moment.”

Lyris vanished into one of the neighbouring rooms, leaving you alone with Madame Whiskers. You stared at her—she stared back.

You cleared your throat. Why the hell do I feel so judged by a cat? “Madame Whiskers, was it?”

She just kept on staring. Yeah, okay, that’s my fault for expecting a cat to talk back. “You seem to be a cat of high class,” you commented, awkwardly bowing to her as best you could while sitting down. “Lyris must treat you very well. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Madame Whiskers tilted her head to the side, studying you, before trotting over to jump up next to you on the couch. She then laid down in your lap, staring up at you with a look that could not have more obviously screamed pet me.

Hesitant but not wanting to risk offending her, you slowly began to rub your thumb in circles behind her ears. Soon enough, you began to notice a deep purring coming from Madame Whiskers, and more confident that you were doing the right thing, you began to rub a bit more firmly. Within moments, she was stretched out to her full length, looking completely blissed out.

“Apologies for the wait, I hope Madame Whiskers behaved—” Lyris paused mid sentence as he entered the room. He held a fancy dish of what was most likely expensive cat food in one hand, and a smirk curled across his lips as he took in the situation. “Well, would you look at that. She likes you.”

He placed the dish down. At its gentle clink, Madame Whiskers hopped off your lap and trotted over, daintily nibbling at her food. You, meanwhile, were left trying to process this new information. “She does? Does she not usually like people?”

Lyris chuckled, an amused gleam in his mismatched eyes as he sat back down. “That would be the understatement of the century. She nearly clawed poor Piama half to death when they met.”

You shuddered as you imagined what Madame Whiskers must be like when she’s upset. No wonder Piama had called her the most annoying creature on the planet. “Yeah, I think I can say I’m glad she likes me.”

“I suppose that’s just another way in which you are special.” Your name rolled smoothly off his tongue, and judging by the way he smirked at you when you went rigid with shock, he knew what he was doing to you. Has he known this entire time?!

You cleared your throat, trying desperately to save face. “As much as I’m sure we could chat about your cat for hours, we did come here for a reason.”

“Of course.” Just like that, Lyris’s flirty demeanour evaporated, a far more serious expression falling over him as he leaned forward slightly. It was a jarring change, and you fought not to squirm in place. “If I may ask, what is your understanding of the situation?”

You took a deep breath. Moment of truth. “You’re Peacock. You look exactly like him.” Not to mention acting exactly like him.

Lyris smiled. It wasn’t unkind, but it didn’t reach his eyes. It only took a second to decide you didn’t like it. “You have a good eye. Though as much as I intended to be recognized, you were not the one I was expecting.”

Your head snapped up. “You wanted to be recognized?”

“By a certain someone, yes.” Lyris crossed his arms, regarding you carefully. “Have you heard of Fox?”

One of Hazel’s statements from earlier in the day rung in your mind. After Fox disappeared, he took over as Altadellys’s protector of the night. “Just in passing,” you admitted. “My friend Hazel mentioned them. Were they like you?”

“Somewhat.” You were shocked to see his smile turn fond, real and bright. “He had his own way of going about things, but yes, we had the same ultimate goal.”

Your mind was reeling under the weight of what you’d just learned. Lyris was familiar enough with Fox to speak of him like an old and dear friend? He was hoping to be recognized by Fox? “But my friend said he disappeared,” you said eventually, your thoughts still spinning.

“That’s right. And that’s why I’m Peacock.” The explanation seemed to make perfect sense to Lyris, and yet it clarified absolutely nothing for you.

“I don’t follow,” you admitted, brows furrowing as you tried to put the pieces together. “How did Fox’s disappearance lead to you becoming Peacock?”

Lyris hummed, a thoughtful expression crossing his features. “For the sake of his privacy, let’s just say he’s someone important to me. We fell out of contact years ago, but I still think about him pretty often.” He chuckled. “Nothing could prepare me for seeing him debut in the news as a masked thief, but I was hardly surprised. He’d deny it to his dying breath, but he always had a flair for the dramatic.”

And you don’t? You bit back the comment, preferring to focus on the matter at hand. “I still don’t understand. I get you guys have history, but…”

Lyris raised an amused eyebrow. “Well, of course you’re confused. There’s more to the story.”

You sank back into the couch cushions, feeling your cheeks burn. “Sorry,” you mumbled.

Lyris chuckled, which only served to increase your embarrassment. At least he didn’t seem to think any less of you for it. “You’re cute when you’re flustered. In any case, Fox goes to much further lengths to conceal his identity than I do, but there’s no disguising his powers. I recognized them immediately, but I wasn’t concerned at first. He could take care of himself, and if he needed me, he’d find me. Or at least I hoped so.” There was a flash of sadness in his eyes, gone in an instant. “Then a few months later after his shine into the spotlight, he disappeared. No news about an arrest. Nothing.”

You tilted your head. “If there was no news of an arrest, then isn’t that a good thing?”

Lyris shook his head, giving you an almost pitying look. “You have a lot to learn about Altadellys. Someone disappearing without a trace like that is never a good thing.”

You got the idea he wasn’t trying to be condescending, so you tucked that nugget of information away for later and tried to focus on the matter before you. “So you became Peacock to… look for him?”

“Close.” His mismatched eyes glittered with mischief. “It’s hard to look for someone with no leads. So I thought…” He trailed off, standing and carefully removing his vest. Unobstructed, you were able to see that the clothing he wore had a slit in the back, the function of which immediately became obvious as there was a flash of brilliant green light, revealing his beautiful wings when it faded.

You giggled even as you found yourself taking him in in all his glory. Even without the suit and mask, he was so openly and unashamedly Peacock. “You planned to lure him out with drama?”

“Precisely.” He bowed deeply before perching on the arm of the couch, careful not to disturb anything with his wings. “I’ve had no luck yet, but assuming he isn’t dead in a ditch somewhere, he can’t avoid me forever.”

You chewed on your lip, fingers fussing in your hair as you tried to decide on a course of action. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Genuine surprise flitted across Lyris’s expression for a second before he smiled. “That’s sweet of you, but it’s best if you don’t get involved. Just knowing this much is dangerous. I have just as many enemies as admirers.”

You sighed. A part of you wanted to protest, but he had a point. Besides, how were you supposed to help? You didn’t have any powers. “Alright, but if there’s anything I can do for you, anything at all…”

To your surprise, Lyris stood and closed the distance between the two of you in a few strides, close enough that you were struck by the memory of meeting him earlier in the day. “I sincerely hope that you don’t have to get dragged into my mess,” he said quietly, “but thank you. I’ll let you know.”

He pulled back, the moment over far too soon. “It’s getting late,” he murmured, eyes only briefly flickering to the window before falling back on you. “And trust me, your room is something of a mess right now.”

“I’m sure it’s not that bad,” you began to say, but Lyris was already shaking his head.

“You’d be surprised,” he replied, and you could see a mischievous glint in his eyes that was beginning to grow familiar to you. “But you know, since it’s my fault your room looks like an apocalypse hit it, the gracious thing to do would be to offer up my own.”

“What?!” Your eyes flew wide open. “I couldn’t accept that! It’s your room! Where would you sleep?”

Lyris raised his eyebrows, looking for all the world as if you’d just told a hilarious joke. “In my bed, of course. Where else?”

You choked on air, and you saw concern flicker over his face. “But— you— I—”

Lyris eased up immediately, his eyes bright as he chuckled. “I was only joking. I’ll take the couch. It’s only fair,” he explained lightly, before he paused, leaning in. “Unless, of course, you would prefer to share.”

Your brain screeched to a halt. Did he just say—?! You took a deep breath, closing your eyes as you tried to calm your racing thoughts. Yeah, okay, he did offer to share the bed with you. He seems serious about it, too. You’d never had an attractive guy offer to share his bed with you before. It would be madness to pass this opportunity up. Summoning all your courage, you looked Lyris in the eyes, your voice firm. “You know what? I think I would prefer that.”

If your response shocked him, he didn’t show it at all. In fact, he actually looked pleased. “Come with me, then.” He extended a hand to you. As you took it, he laced your fingers together, bringing your joined hands to his lips to place another kiss there. Once again, the action caused a stirring of butterflies in your stomach, but you did your best to conceal it. Two can play at his game. Don’t let him win.

Lyris’s bedroom was incredibly lavish, but your eyes landed on his bed and never left. The queen-sized bed had a mattress that looked heavenly to you right now, fancy pillows perfectly fluffed, pale green silk sheets neatly folded over the bed. Your exhaustion from the day’s events hit you all at once, and it was all you could do not to collapse on the bed then and there.

Lyris’s hand left yours, and you glanced over at him only to nearly choke again as he began to strip down without a care. He hummed a small tune under his breath as he removed his various pieces of jewellery, his shirt coming off next with practiced expertise. In a matter of moments, he stood almost completely naked before you, his underwear the only thing remaining. Jesus, is every person in Altadellys this ripped or have I just been getting lucky?

Lyris looked over at you, a smirk curling across his lips as he caught you staring. “Do you see something you like, my lady?”

“Uh—no! I mean, yes! I mean—gah!” You turned away from him, trying to ignore his satisfied laugh as you stripped down to your bra and underwear. Once you finished, you turned back to the bed, finding Lyris already relaxed on one side of it, though to your surprise (and gratitude) he had his eyes politely averted.

He evidently felt your weight settle into the mattress as you laid down, and he reached out to turn off the lights. “Rest well,” he offered up to the darkness, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

“You as well.” There was no more talking. As you curled up beneath the blankets, you began to wonder if you could fall asleep, hyper aware of Lyris’s weight and warmth right beside you, but soon the events of the day began to wear at your consciousness and you drifted away. Your dreams were filled with hazy images of peacocks and foxes and masks.

You awoke the next morning to find Lyris’s side of the bed empty. You fought back the disappointment that tried to settle in your stomach, reaching for your pants (that had been neatly folded and placed next to the bed, you noted curiously) to fish your phone out of their pocket.

You swiped over to your messenger out of instinct, noting a couple texts from Hazel and… one from an unknown number. Blinking in surprise, you checked the timestamp, finding it was sent at 3:42AM—in other words, while you were fast asleep. Who in the world would be messaging me at quarter to four in the morning? Curiosity compelled you to open the message.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: Are you Amara’s friend?

You stared at the message, hands trembling slightly. Normally you would’ve blocked the number and paid it no mind, but this stranger had mentioned Amara. You were pretty sure that wasn’t the world’s most common name, which meant that whoever this was, you had a common acquaintance. Unless they were stalking you. Gods, you really hoped they weren’t stalking you.

You: Yes? Who are you?

Given their apparently abnormal sleeping schedule, you really weren’t expecting them to reply for a while, but immediately, the typing dots showed up, as though they had been waiting for your response.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: You may call me Owl.

Another animal themed alias? You couldn’t deny your suspicions were raised, narrowing your eyes at your phone. Just like Fox and Peacock… but I haven’t heard of an Owl. And what connection would they have to someone like Amara, anyway?

You: Okay, Owl. What do you want from me?

In the time it took them to reply, you quickly added them to your contacts, figuring ‘Owl’ would be a lot less unnerving than a string of numbers. When you looked back at your messages, they had already responded. Damn, they type quick.

Owl: Nothing. I simply needed to verify your identity. When are you planning on applying to Optimus?

A jolt of shock and even mild fear ran down your spine before you remembered that Amara had mentioned a friend yesterday who could help you with applying for an internship. It must be Owl. You were going to pray it was Owl, or you were probably fucked.

You: Uh, later today, I think.

Once again, Owl’s response was immediate.

Owl: Thank you. I will keep watch for your application.

Owl: I’ll erase any traces of this conversation now.

You nearly choked, fingers fumbling with the phone in your haste to type.

You: What why?!

Owl: It’s for your safety. Have a good day.

Before you had a chance to further protest, the messages disappeared from your screen, leaving you with a blank DM with the mysterious Owl. You were about to try sending them a new message, bewildered, when you remembered the texts from Hazel. Shoot, how did I forget that?!

You quickly opened them, finding that they were both from yesterday afternoon, before you’d headed to Lyris’s apartment.

Hazel: Np

Hazel: Amara and I were looking to hang out somewhere this weekend so we’ll let u know abt that if u want

You: That’d be great, Hazey

You: Sorry for the way late reply, I got distracted

“Good morning, sleeping beauty.~” You almost dropped your phone as Lyris walked into the room, looking up at him with wide eyes. He was thankfully(?) clothed, though still sans vest, that unbearably attractive smirk curled across his lips. “Did you have nice dreams?”

“Uh… weird dreams, more like,” you replied, running your fingers through your hair in an attempt to look presentable. “What about you?”

“With you here, my lady? Best I’ve ever had,” Lyris replied with a playful wink, before taking on a slightly more serious demeanor. “I went out to grab breakfast, and a certain flowery devil roommate of yours accosted me on the way back. Seems like she’s pretty insistent on taking you out shopping for some new clothes today.” Despite his seemingly uninterested words, you couldn’t help but notice an excited glint in his eyes. “Though if you ask me, she’s scoping out the competition.”

“Competition?” You raised your eyebrows, and Lyris chuckled, leaning forward as if to share some scandalous conspiracy.

“Piama’s a fashion designer,” he explained with a hum. “Her talents are almost unparalleled, but don’t tell her I said that.” His attitude shifted again, lips curving into a frown as his eyes darkened. “Unfortunately, talent doesn’t matter as much as influence in Altadellys.”

“But that’s not fair.” The words were spilling out before you could stop them. Lyris gave you another pitying look.

“It isn’t,” he agreed, “but that’s the way things are in Altadellys. If you’ve got money, you’ll succeed.” He sighed softly.

Your insides still burned red hot at the injustice of it, but you were also smart enough to realize that not only were you just one person, you were also a nobody in Altadellys. As much as you wanted to help Piama, you couldn’t think of a viable way to do so. Closing your eyes, you took a deep breath. Once you opened them again, you moved on. “Well, I’d definitely love to have a fashion designer’s help in picking a new outfit.”

“Hey, I know my way around high fashion too.” Lyris gave you a mock hurt look that was so convincing you almost felt bad. Almost. “Haven’t you seen me?”

You laughed, and were rewarded by seeing the fake frown immediately turn to his genuine, gentle smile. “Don’t worry, you silly peacock,” you chided, relishing in the way his eyes lit up at the subtle nod to his alter ego. “I couldn’t forget about seeing you even if I wanted to.”

The smile was replaced by a smirk. “Flattery will get you everywhere, darling,” he said smoothly, sending an electric jolt down your spine. Before you had a chance to react, he turned away from you, grabbing a hairbrush off the dresser. “I’ll give you some privacy. When you’re ready, I grabbed a blueberry muffin for you, it’s on the kitchen counter. Hope you’re not allergic.”

You giggled despite the heat still staining your cheeks red. You figured it would be a while until you got used to how Lyris could change between personas in a snap, flirty to serious to friendly in the blink of an eye. “No allergies here. And thanks.”

“Not a problem. I’ll be in the living room if you need me.” He swept from the room, and you wasted no time in getting ready for the day. You were in the middle of trying to tame your hair with a few hair ties when you felt your phone buzz in your pocket.

Hazel: Distracted huh? :p

You nearly choked, suddenly grateful you were alone as you fumbled to not drop your phone.

You: Hazel!!!

You: It is SO not like that!!!

Hazel: LOL

Hazel: Sorry Freckles I had to tease ya

You rolled your eyes at your phone. You loved Hazel, really, you did, but she was going to be the death of you.

You: You definitely didn’t.

Hazel: Definitely did

Hazel: Best friend duties and all that

You: So should I start teasing you about Amara?

Hazel: If u wanna

Hazel: I mean shes cute

Hazel: And have u SEEN her

You: Hazey! Do you mean to tell me that my best friend has a crush and I didn’t know about it?

Hazel: LOOOOL

Hazel: Nah just aesthetic attraction tbh

Hazel: We’ll see tho

There was a knock on the door. “You alright in there?” Lyris called. “Not to rush you if you have a very detailed morning routine because I get that, but Madame Whiskers can only hold off Piama for so long.”

“I’ll be right there!” you called back, quickly typing a goodbye to Hazel.

You: Okay you useless lesbian, I’ve gotta run though.

You: My roommate and a friend are taking me clothes shopping.

Hazel: uwu have fun I’ll lyk abt any plans w/ Amara

You slipped your phone into your pocket and finished getting ready, heading out to the living room, pausing to grab the muffin from the kitchen. You found Lyris relaxed on the couch, more or less the same as he was earlier except he had now donned his vest and his hair was done up in its usual braids. Madame Whiskers was curled up by the entrance to the apartment, eyeing the door with the intensity of a hawk watching its prey.

You cleared your throat, unsure of what to say, and Lyris looked up. He offered you a small smirk before softly clicking his tongue twice. Immediately, Madame Whiskers got up, trotting over to her owner’s side and laying back down.

“Piama, you can come in now,” Lyris called, and immediately the door opened, revealing a very huffy Piama.

“Why do you let the cat have more authority in your own home than you do?” Piama complained, before her eyes landed on you. A bright smile immediately lit up her face. “Oh, good morning! Did you sleep well?”

“Uh.” Your brain decided this was an excellent time to remind you that you had shared the bed with Lyris. “Yeah, I slept fine.”

You realized your embarrassment must’ve been showing on your face as Piama grinned. “You’re blushing,” she noted, her tone filled to bursting with thinly veiled excitement. “Did something happen that I should know about?~”

“Now now Piama, don’t you think it’s rather impolite to ask another lady to kiss and tell?” Lyris reprimanded, arching one eyebrow. You breathed a sigh of relief as Piama turned to him, mouthing ‘thank you.’ He gave you a short nod.

You could see that Piama was pouting, but she quickly relented under Lyris’s unimpressed stare. “Fiiiine,” she sighed. She looked back to you. “I’m sorry.”

You offered her your best reassuring smile. “It’s alright. But just for the record, nothing happened between Lyris and I last night.”

That gave Piama pause, blinking in shock. “Wait, seriously? I thought for sure that…”

“Assumptions are a dangerous thing, Piama,” Lyris noted, coming to stand by you. “But I am rather curious as to why you’re so invested in this. Are you perhaps jealous?”

“What? No!” Piama puffed out her cheeks. “Sure, she’s cute, but I—” She stopped, groaning as she realized what he’d just got her to admit. “Lyris, I hate you.”

Lyris hummed, smirking in satisfaction. “Love you too, Piama.” You, meanwhile, were currently trying to process the fact a pretty woman had called you cute.

If looks could kill, you were pretty sure the glare Piama gave Lyris would’ve made him keel over on the spot. “You think she’s cute too,” she accused.

Lyris shrugged, neither confirming nor denying it. “Perhaps. But she’d look cuter in some more updated fashions, don’t you think?”

That was apparently an acceptable distraction for Piama, and soon enough, you found yourself in the largest clothing store you’d ever seen. Your companions navigated it with practiced ease, playfully bantering and bickering back and forth the entire time.

They were debating what shade of green you’d look best in when your thoughts began to drift. You couldn’t really keep up with what the pair were discussing, so you decided that maybe it wouldn’t hurt to look around on your own for a bit. “Hey, guys? Is it okay if I wander off for a sec?”

Lyris’s gaze slid over to you for a second as he gave you a brief nod, before returning to animatedly arguing with Piama. Permission granted, you picked a random direction and started walking, not really minding where you ended up.

Your path eventually found you in the store’s jewellery section, and you surveyed the large array of glittering trinkets with awe. Wow. It was pretty much all you could think. All of this is at least ten times fancier than anything I ever saw back home. You frowned as you took note of their price tags. And at least ten times more expensive.

Even so, your eye was still drawn to a sparkling silver necklace. Pale green crystals decorated it with leaves and flowers, and despite the fact you had never been one for luxurious accessories such as this, you found yourself checking the price tag anyway. A hundred and fifty dollars. You sighed, feeling the weight of disappointment settle in your stomach. Oh well, not like I was expecting any different.

You turned to leave only to squawk as you nearly collided with someone, a slight chill shocking you at the point of contact. “Oh shoot, I’m so sor—!”

The sentence died on your tongue as you took a step back, flicking your eyes up to fully take in this dizzyingly handsome stranger. Long black hair streaked with a gorgeous dark blue fell neatly past his shoulders, his head cocked to one side as he surveyed you. You had to repress a shudder under the intensity of his gaze, light purple eyes seeming to pierce right through to your soul and pinning you in place. His deep, deep neckline (if it could even be called that!) did nothing to conceal most of his torso, allowing you a good look at just how powerfully built he was. Fuck. Why do I keep embarrassing myself in front of hot guys?!

You realized he was still staring down at you, expression expectant, and you quickly cleared your throat. “Oh, um. I’m sorry.”

The stranger raised an eyebrow, the absolute picture of arrogance. “You should be more careful where you step,” he reprimanded, catapulting you from bi mode into indignation. Well, mostly.

You put one hand on your hip, giving him an extremely cross look. “Hey, you were the one who snuck up on me without making a damn sound.”

The stranger huffed in amusement, which only made your irritation flare higher. “And yet you still felt it necessary to apologize to me.”

You refused to tell him that it was because you were too flustered to think straight. “That was before you started acting like a haughty princeling.”

A smirk twitched across his lips, and god damn it all, it was just as stupidly attractive as Lyris’s. “You aren’t from here, are you?”

“No, I’ve lived here all my life and I’m just really obsessed with out-of-town fashions, can’t you see?” you snarked back, already not in the mood for bullshit. You tried to be a nice person, you really did, but sometimes…

“My mistake.” His tone didn’t change at all, smirk unfaltering. “I wasn’t aware that any self-respecting Altadellian would take interest in such things.”

You rolled your eyes. “Did you need something or are you just going to stand around insulting me?”

“Perhaps, if it proves entertaining.” Holy shit was this guy a smug bastard. You kind of wanted to punch him in the jaw right now, but as you were in a public space, you refrained.

“Right, well.” You weren’t going to stand here and be some arrogant jerk’s plaything. “If you’ll excuse me, I have places to be.” You stepped around the stranger, though you had barely managed to take a few strides when you heard him call after you.

“Leaving so soon? And here I was considering helping you.”

You gritted your teeth, slowly turning to face him. At least he didn’t look as condescending as before, which was lucky—for him or for you, you didn’t know. “And what could you possibly help me with?”

He tilted his head towards the necklace you’d been admiring, smirk returning. It took all your willpower not to leave then and there. “I couldn’t help but notice you were ogling that necklace there.”

You pressed your lips together in a thin line. Patience. “What about it?”

He didn’t say anything, just giving you an amused, smug look. Before you had a chance to further press, the stranger reached into his pocket, withdrawing several crisp hundred dollar bills. He held them out to you, and in your shock, you took them without thinking.

After a moment, the action fully processed, and you narrowed your eyes. “Wait. Why are you giving me this?” you asked, tone laced with infinite skepticism.

The stranger shrugged one shoulder, looking for all the world as if he didn’t care about the large sum of money he’d just given away. “I have no use for it.”

A voice calling your name stole your attention. Turning to look for the source, you found Lyris nearby, evidently searching for you. You waved to him. “Over here!”

Lyris made his way over to you, a small smile on his face. His expression immediately became filled with curiosity as he noticed the bills in your hand, folding his arms as he nodded to them. “Well now, that’s quite the sum of money you’ve got there. Where’d you get it?”

“Oh! It was given to me by—” You turned to point out the stranger, only to find he was gone. Scanning the aisles, he appeared to have disappeared without a trace. “—this man here. Huh, that’s strange. He was just behind me.”

You looked back at Lyris, who was frowning. “What did he look like?”

Well, at least it wasn’t hard to remember that. You had been having a bi panic over him before he’d opened his mouth. “Long black hair, dark blue streaks. Light purple eyes. His neckline could barely even be considered that—” You stopped as you noticed something strange flit over Lyris’s expression. “Are you alright?”

Lyris shook his head slightly as if to clear it. “Nothing you need to concern yourself with,” he replied, and you couldn’t help but feel as though his smile was fake as he surveyed the nearby area as well. “Whoever he was, he’s gone now.” He didn’t seem willing to dwell on the topic.

You sighed dejectedly. “That’s so weird. I have no idea how he could’ve slipped away in the second I turned my back.” You glanced down at the bills in your hand. “Well, I shouldn’t waste this. He gave me these for a reason, so…”

Your gaze slipped back to the necklace. Lyris followed your line of sight and grinned. “Are you sure you don’t have powers?” he asked teasingly, voice hushed. “You must be psychic to pick an accessory that will go so perfectly with the dress Piama wants you to try.”

You rolled your eyes good-naturedly. After dealing with such an enigma of a man, Lyris’s teasing was a familiar comfort. “I’ll be sure to let you know if I spontaneously develop powers,” you quipped. “Lead the way?”

The dress Piama had picked was a simple off-the-shoulder one, green and white with swirling silver trim. It fit you perfectly, and as you stared into the dressing room mirror, you couldn’t help but think, wow, Lyris was right. It’s like the necklace and this dress were made to be a set.

You stepped out and Piama gave a little squeal. “You look like a princess!” she complimented enthusiastically, beaming.

“She’s right,” Lyris confirmed, which might have been the first time you’d heard them agree this entire trip. “You look like an Altadellian, born and bred.”

You went to thank them both before remembering what Lyris had said last night to you about Altadellys. You hesitated. Do I really want to look like I belong in a city that’s apparently much darker than its glittery surface? The thought made your gut twist with unease, but you were pretty sure his statement was meant as a compliment. “Thank you?” Even so, you couldn’t keep the slight questioning tone out of your voice.

Piama turned to Lyris, eyes bright. “This has got to be the one. It’s like it was made for her!”

“You certainly aren’t wrong,” Lyris agreed. “Not to mention I doubt we could find something else we agree on. However…” His gaze flickered over to you. “I believe it should be her final decision.”

You weren’t exactly eager to spend another few hours waiting while your friends bickered about something you really didn’t understand, and the dress was surprisingly more comfortable than it looked. “I like it too,” you decided. “I’ll take it.”

Piama clapped her hands together with glee. “I knew you would! No one will be able to take their eyes off you.”

Looking between Lyris and Piama’s resplendent outfits, you were pretty sure you still looked plain by comparison, but you decided not to comment. “Well, I don’t know about that…”

“Don’t undersell yourself,” Lyris gently reprimanded, and you glanced up at him, surprised. “You were already prettier than half the girls in Altadellys. The outfit just makes it more obvious.”

“Lyris!” Piama pouted, placing her hands on her hips.

Lyris chuckled, shaking his head at her. “Did I not say half the girls in Altadellys? You are as beautiful as ever, Piama, do not worry.”

You didn’t really catch the rest of their banter as Lyris’s words finally sunk in. What?! Heat blossomed in your cheeks as you shook your head, trying desperately to retain your composure. This isn’t the first time he’s said something like this… is he… flirting with me?

“Hey, are you listening?” You jumped as Piama’s voice cut into your reverie.

“She seems a little flushed,” Lyris noted, smirking like the cat who got both the canary and the cream. “Are you feeling well?”

Damn you. Damn you damn you damn you. Well, two could play at that game. “Maybe I do feel a little sick,” you countered, looking him in the eyes. “I feel weak, and my heart rate is through the roof. Do you know what’s wrong with me, Doctor Rosi?”

Lyris’s eyes gleamed with pure, unfiltered delight as he leaned forward, tapping his chin in mock thought. “Those are quite the serious symptoms. I diagnose you with a case of… feelings.”

You let out a dramatic gasp, placing one hand to your forehead as if in terrible agony. “Feelings! Oh, woe is me. Doctor, tell me—will I survive this affliction?”

Lyris gave you a look of such forlorn pity you almost broke character to laugh. “Unfortunately, neither time nor medicine can heal this malady. There are ways to ease the symptoms though…” Mischief curled the corners of his lips.

“I beg of you, tell me what I can do to ease my pain—” You made to mock stumble, only to misjudge your footing and actually trip over your own two feet. You saw Lyris’s act drop as he immediately reached out to catch you, pulling you close to keep you steady. There was a fierce determination in his eyes as he glanced down at you, and you could practically see Peacock’s mask on him.

“Get a room, you two!” The moment was shattered by Piama’s exclamation, and you flushed an even deeper red, looking over to see her grinning widely and slightly conspiratorially. “I mean, tell me everything, but still, get a room.”

You disentangled yourself from Lyris’s arms, hiding your face in your hair as you determinedly looked anywhere but at the two of them. Lyris, meanwhile, seemed completely unfazed, as you heard him chuckle. “As wonderful as your suggestion sounds, Piama, I believe I’m booked for the rest of the day.”

That caught you by surprise, enough for you to temporarily break free of your embarrassment to glance over at him. He gave you a subtle wink, and you immediately understood that oh, he’s going to go do vigilante stuff as Peacock.

Piama, who was evidently not in on the secret, gave an incredulous huff. “Seriously? This has been happening way too often recently. I’m crossing out the partner theory because you’ve been soooo blatantly flirting with her, so what the heck have you been up to?”

Lyris gave her a mysterious smile. “It seems I’m more and more in demand these days. You know how it is—you can never get a moment of peace when you’re someone like me.” He gave an exaggerated sigh, before turning to you. “I’ll leave you in Piama’s hands, but if something does happen… call me.”

“I don’t have your number,” you pointed out, but this only caused him to smirk.

“My mistake. We’ll have to fix that then, won’t we?”

Oh. OH. Holy shit, he was asking for your number. A hot guy… was asking for your number. A hot guy you’d seen almost naked and shared a bed with was asking for your number. You nearly dropped your phone in your haste to pull it out. “Oh, right! Of course, just let me…” You opened up a blank contact, naming it ‘Lyris’ before handing it over to him.

He inputted his number with a smirk, and you quickly sent him a text so that he’d have yours. “I’ll be on my way then. Don’t be a stranger, darling.” He offered you one last wink before turning and striding away. You could only watch him disappear into the crowd, your mind still trying to process what had just happened.

“Didn’t I explicitly tell you not to fall for his charms?” Piama’s playful reprimand brought you back to reality. “Though I guess I can’t blame you.”

You raised your eyebrows. “Okay, one, it’s not what you think, and two… do you mean to imply you might’ve caught feelings for him too?”

“If I had, it would’ve made me no different to half the girls in Altadellys,” Piama replied, and you couldn’t help but note the deflection. She didn’t seem to want to linger on it either, giving you a smug smile. “But he’s definitely never flirted with me like that.”

“Piama…” You sighed, shaking your head, though you found yourself unable to be truly upset with her. “Let’s just go home. I think I’ve had enough excitement for one day.”

Piama pouted, evidently not quite ready to give up this piece of juicy gossip, but she did relent easily enough. It was almost a relief to sprawl across your apartment’s couch with a cup of coffee and a packet of oreos, laptop balanced precariously on your knees as you idly clacked at the keys to fill out your application to Optimus.

You had half an oreo caught between your teeth as you finished, hitting the send button with a sigh as you shut your laptop and leaned back on the couch. Piama was holed up in her room working on a new design so you really weren’t sure what you could—

A loud chiming interrupted your thoughts and you jumped, barely managing to avoid spilling your drink everywhere. You quickly opened your messenger, expecting the text to be from Hazel or maybe even Lyris, only to stop and stare as you recognized the sender.

Owl: I’ve processed your application for you. They should be expecting you to start working tomorrow morning.

Shaking yourself out of your daze, you hastened to reply.

You: Already??? How did you do that so fast? I sent it in like, a second ago.

Wait.

You: TOMORROW MORNING???

Owl: I had assumed you’d want to start working as soon as possible. Altadellys is a treacherous city, after all. Hardly a place for someone with no money.

Lyris said the same thing, more or less… You sighed, chewing on your lip. Well, I guess I probably shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, huh?

You: Right, sorry. Well, thank you.

Owl: Don’t mention it.

That seemed to be the end of the conversation, and you waited for Owl to wipe your DMs like they had done earlier in the day. To your surprise, the messages remained. You were about to ask them about it when a thought occurred to you. Wait, this is my chance to get to know more about them! Besides, it’s not like I have anything better to—

A text from Hazel flashed onto your screen and you clicked on it out of instinct.

Hazel: Ok so I know I said this weekend 4 plans with Amara but we got 3 last minute tickets 4 a musical and it’s happening, like, now

...crap.

CHAPTER CHOICE

You've faced with a crossroads! You have the opportunity to gather some information on the mysterious friend of Amara's, Owl, but if you do, you won't be able to go see a last-minute musical with Amara and Hazel. Do you: A) Continue texting with Owl B) Go see the musical with Amara and Hazel